Werder Bremen conceded an unlucky own goal late on in Stuttgart to lose 1-0 to VfB. In a match characterised by fiercely fought duels, the Green-Whites were unable to finish any of their chances and left the Mercedes-Benz Arena empty handed after Ludwig Augustinsson deflected the ball into his own net (81’) to give the three points to Pellegrino Matarazzo’s team.
Line-up and formation: Head coach Florian Kohfeldt made two changes to the team that started the defeat to VfL Wolfsburg before the international break. Niclas Füllkrug returned to the starting XI following his period out with injury as he replaced Josh Sargent, who was suspended for the game after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season. In defence, Christian Groß was rotated in for the injured Milos Veljkovic. Maximilian Eggestein started in midfield in his 150th Bundesliga match for Werder.
Starting XI: Pavlenka, Augustinsson, Möhwald, Rashica, Füllkrug, Schmid, Toprak, Gebre Selassie, Friedl, Eggestein, Groß
Substitutes: Zetterer, Osako, Selke, Bittencourt, Agu, Moisander, Erras, Mbom, Dinkci
First half highlights:
6th minute: A first opening for Stuttgart as Marco Friedl misplaces a pass, which is intercepted by Mateo Klimowicz. He opts to shoot instead of passing but fires wide of Pavlenka’s goal.
10th minute: A Ludwig Augustinsson free kick falls kindly for Romano Schmid who catches a volley cleanly. His effort flies towards the top right corner but is brilliantly saved by Gregor Kobel, who parries to safety.
23rd minute: A good pass from Milot Rashica finds Ludwig Augustinsson on the edge of the box. The Swede hits a first-time shot that goes narrowly wide of the Kobel’s left post.
25th minute: The home side advance forward and the ball finds its way to Klimowicz. He looks up and goes for goal from distance, forcing Jiri Pavlenka into a good save at full stretch.
31st minute: Kevin Möhwald finds himself in space around 30 yards out and lets fly with a driving effort from range. VfB’s keeper is again on hand to save to keep the score goalless.
40th minute: Niclas Füllkrug receives the ball from Theodor Gebre Selassie in the penalty area, but the forward cannot sort out his feet and the chance goes begging.
Second half highlights:
54th minute: First chance of the second half. Stuttgart win a corner which is taken low and defended by Ömer Toprak. It falls nicely for Borna Sosa who fires a shot in on goal which goes just over the bar.
56th minute: Milot Rashica beats his man and hits a low pass across the box to Niclas Füllkrug. The striker meets it first time but his attempt is too high.
58th minute: Good save from Pavlenka! Mateo Klimowicz is again causing the Werder defence problems and beats Gebre Selassie, but Werder’s keeper gets down well to keep out the low drive.
78th minute: An opening for Milot Rashica who is played in by substitute Yuya Osako, but the Kosovan international’s shot is off target.
81st minute: Goal for VfB Stuttgart. Borna Sosa advances down the left-hand side and whips in a great cross that rebounds in off Ludwig Augustinsson. Extremely unlucky for the left-back.
90+1st minute: Werder’s substitutes combine as Davie Selke lays the ball off for Yuya Osako. The Japan international fires an effort into the side netting. Agonisingly close to an equaliser!
Conclusion: Both sides showed their desire to take something from the game from the first minute and gave everything they had in duels. As a result, the majority of the action took place in the middle of the park with chances something of a rarity. After the break, both sides stepped up the intensity of the match, but were still unable to put the ball into the net in an end-to-end contest. As it looked as though the game was heading towards being a goalless draw, the hosts managed to get their noses in front through an unfortunate own goal from Ludwig Augustinsson meaning that Werder went empty handed.
