News Focus
- Yukinari Sugawara sees red after just two minutes – the fastest dismissal in Werder Bremen’s Bundesliga history
- Bazoumana Touré scores the only goal following a costly error by Jens Stage
- Marco Friedl describes the concession as “childish” and compares his teammates to people “watching aeroplanes”
- Bremen move closer to safety despite defeat, with survival likely unless Wolfsburg beat Bayern Munich
Werder Bremen captain Marco Friedl has launched a scathing attack on his side’s concentration levels, labelling their defending “childish” following a painful 1-0 defeat away to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. The visitors produced a brave display with ten men for nearly the entire match, yet still left Sinsheim empty-handed.
The contest turned on its head inside the opening 120 seconds. Japanese full-back Yukinari Sugawara was shown a straight red card for a dangerous challenge on Bazoumana Touré. Referee Sören Storks initially waved play on, but a VAR intervention corrected the decision, handing Bremen the unwanted record of their earliest ever Bundesliga sending-off.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, the away side organised themselves superbly. They restricted Hoffenheim to few clear chances and even threatened on the counter-attack. However, one moment of madness proved decisive. A sloppy back pass from midfielder Jens Stage gifted the hosts a corner. Bremen then switched off completely from the quick restart, allowing Touré to catch them off guard and fire home the winner.
Friedl could not contain his fury in his post-match interview. “What makes me incredibly angry is the manner of that goal. It is childish,” the Austrian centre-back stated. “It is unbelievable that we are not awake in that moment. It looks like we are daydreaming or watching aeroplanes. You simply cannot concede goals from such situations, especially given our current position in the table.”
Midfielder Senne Lynen echoed his captain’s sentiments. “We spent the whole week preparing tactically for this opponent, but after two minutes everything changed,” Lynen told Sky. “We fought hard and created good opportunities, but the way we conceded was far too cheap. We were completely out of position for the corner.”
The result leaves Bremen waiting to mathematically confirm their Bundesliga survival. However, with FC St. Pauli losing 2-1 to RB Leipzig, Ole Werner’s men will remain in the top flight unless VfL Wolfsburg manage to defeat FC Bayern Munich in their final matches. Friedl, a former Bayern player, is now relying on his old club to do his current team a favour.
“I have to take my hat off to the team for how we played after the red card against a top opponent,” Friedl added. “But that makes the defeat even more frustrating. I hope we can finally put this long and difficult season to bed when we get off the plane later.”