First half highlights:
6th minute: Marco Friedl brings down Herrmann on the right-hand side, and the ball is floated into the Werder box from the resulting free-kick. Nico Elvedi finds himself in space, but cannot direct his free header to either side of the goal and Pavlenka saves comfortably.
15th minute: Wolf lays it off to Neuhaus who pings a pass deep into Werder territory. Friedl is on hand to diffuse the danger though, as he sprints over to prevent Wolf from finishing from a promising position.
22nd minute: Referee Martin Petersen shows Jiri Pavlenka a yellow card as the Werder keeper comes rushing off his line to intercept a lofted through ball. Pavlenka leaps to head it but misses the ball completely and catches Hofmann instead. A lucky escape for Werder’s number 1!
26th minute: Great save by Sommer! Theodor Gebre Selassie whips a ball into the Gladbach box, which is only cleared as far as Romano Schmid on the edge of the area. The young Austrian latches onto the ball with a ferocious volley that looks set to fly into the top corner, until Sommer leaps and tips it round the post at full stretch. So close!
37th minute: Now it’s Sommer’s turn to come rushing out, as Sargent knocks it past the Swiss and is brought down outside the box. The referee plays advantage as it rolls to Agu, who attempts to curl it into the far corner but sees his effort cleared off the line by Elvedi.
45th minute: The referee blows for half time with the score goalless after a first half that was anything but boring. Werder had two great chances but the hosts have had the lion’s share of possession.
