What a night! A convincing Werder performance and a hattrick from Niclas Füllkrug earned Florian Kohfeldt’s team their first victory of the 2020/21 season. SVW dominated the match that was played without fans in the VELTINS-Arena, scoring two well-deserved first-half goals in the 22nd and 37th minutes. Füllkrug completed his hattrick with a 59th minute penalty, after which the game was all but done, despite Schalke scoring a consolation goal late in injury time.
Line up and formation: Werder head coach Florian Kohfeldt made four changes to the side that started at home to Hertha last weekend. Jean-Manuel Mbom made his Bundesliga debut in the VELTINS-Arena, replacing Tahith Chong who dropped to the bench. In the Werder attack, Leonardo Bittencourt and Niclas Füllkrug came in for Yuya Osako and Davie Selke, while in defence, captain Niklas Moisander was dropped for Milos Veljkovic.
Starting XI: Pavlenka – Augustinsson, Bittencourt, Füllkrug, Veljkovic, Sargent, Gebre Selassie, Klaassen, Friedl, Mbom and M. Eggestein.
Bench: Kapino – Osako, Selke, Agu, Moisander, Chong, J. Eggestein, Groß and Woltemade.
First-half highlights:
9th minute: What a chance! After a cross from Leonardo Bittencourt, who took advantage of a mistake from Benjamin Stambouli, Joshua Sargent is unable to make proper contact with the ball.
22nd minute: Goal for Werder! Niclas Füllkrug gives SV Werder Bremen the lead. Ludwig Augustinsson’s corner is met by Joshua Sargent who heads goalwards, and Füllkrug turns it past the goalkeeper!
37th minute: Goal for Werder! Niclas Füllkrug scores his second of the game and doubles Werder’s lead! Ludwig Augustinsson’s free-kick is delivered perfectly once again and Lücke meets it with his head to beat the goalkeeper shortly before half-time.
44th minute: Almost a lifeline for Schalke: a freekick is delivered into the middle and is heading towards goal via Niklas Moisander, but Jirí Pavlenka is able to punch the ball away.
Second-half highlights:
54th minute: That was close! A cross from Gonçalo Mendes Paciência finds Vedad Ibisevic, who heads centimetres wide completely unmarked.
56th minute: The Green-Whites are riding their luck! A rebound comes to Nassim Boujellab who has only Jiri Pavlenka to beat, but he shoots narrowly wide of the post.
57th minute: Vedad Ibisevic launches himself towards the ball in the penalty area after a corner. Jiri Pavlenka gets there first and manages to clear the danger!
59th minute: Goal for Werder! Niclas Füllkrug converts a penalty for SV Werder Bremen – 3-0! It’s his third of the game!
79th minute: Davie Selke gets the ball and crosses to Joshua Sargent. It’s a huge chance, but Ralf Fährmann is able to get his body in the way and makes the save. It should’ve been 4-0!
84th minute: Red card! Ozan Kabak receives his second booking and is sent off.
90+3rd minute: Goal for FC Schalke 04. Following a deflected ball, Mark Uth collects the ball and scores a consolation goal to make it 3-1.
Match summary: That’s that. SV Werder Bremen deservedly win 3-1 against FC Schalke. The Green-Whites dominated the first half and went into the break two goals to the good thanks to Niclas Füllkrug (22’, 37’). Florian Kohfeldt’s side dominated the second half too. After the number eleven completed his hat-trick, the game was over. Mark Uth scored a consolation for Schalke in injury time (90+3’), but it didn’t take away from Werder’s performance.
