The points were shared at the Wohninvest Weserstadion on Saturday as Werder Bremen held Bayer Leverkusen to a 0-0 draw.
Far from a Bundesliga classic to say the very least, not a lot happened over the course of the contest. The away side were better in the early stages, but Die Grün-Weißen did grow more and more into the game as it went on. Neither team managed to find a breakthrough, though, which led to both just taking a point from the match, which isn’t the worst thing in the world for either.
Story of the match
Bremen had a decent chance midway through the first half, as a superb cross from Ludwig Augustinsson picked out Niclas Füllkrug in the area. He was open at first, but Exequiel Palacios did very well to track back and defend the situation, which led to the forward heading the ball over the bar.
Leverkusen were better to start, and they thought they had made the most of their advantage when they seemingly opened the scoring in the 34th minute. Some excellent work from Karim Bellarabi allowed him to break free on the wing, and he eventually set up Florian Wirtz for an easy tap-in. However, the goal was called back after a VAR review due to the youngster being narrowly offside.
The away side would come close a bit before the half-time break. Leon Bailey’s low pass found Patrik Schick in space in the area, but his first-time shot attempt was hit wide.
Jiří Pavlenka managed to pull off a huge save to keep the scores level late on in a second half that was mostly uneventful. Left-back Wendell had ventured forward for Leverkusen, finding a gap in the final third before unleashing a shot towards goal. However, he would be denied by Bremen’s number one, as Pavlenka rushed out before blocking the attempt with an outstretched arm.
Bremen nearly capitalized on that save by grabbing a goal themselves minutes later, but it wasn’t to be. A cross somehow made its way to substitute Eren Dinkçi at the back post, but it came too quickly, as the forward was unable to adjust his feet and make solid contact on a strike, with the ball eventually going wide.
He would be sent off in the final few moments, but that didn't ultimately have an impact on proceedings as the contest ended 0-0.
Takeaways
Much ado about nothing
This result won’t hurt the teams too much, but it won’t really help them, either.
Bremen are still very much involved in the relegation battle. The point did put some additional space between them and the chasing pack, but it might not matter if those sides win their games later on. However, Die Grün-Weißen were at least able to end their lengthy winless run, and keeping a clean sheet should give the backline a confidence boost going into the final stretch of the season.
Leverkusen, on the other hand, had their dreams of Champions League qualification crushed following the draw due to results elsewhere not going their way. Those hopes were quite unrealistic at this stage, though, so that news won’t hurt the side too much. The good news is that Die Werkself still have a very good chance of making it into the Europa League, which is a silver lining.
Man of the match - Florian Wirtz
No one really stood out on the day, but Florian Wirtz managed to be the best of an average bunch.
Involved throughout, the midfielder constantly got on the ball, whether while in possession or on the counter. He played some lovely intricate passes early on, and he even had a goal ruled out due to him being offside by just a few inches.
It was a performance that showed just why Leverkusen signed the 18-year-old to a contract extension during the week. Wirtz may not have been able to be the matchwinner on this occasion, but his future is still certainly very bright.