Bundesliga: Werder goes down in Gladbach, Freiburg vs. Mainz goalless

With a courageous performance and an outstanding center forward Tim Kleindienst, Borussia Mönchengladbach has made it into the European Cup places. Coach Gerardo Seoane’s team won 4-1 (3-0) against Werder Bremen at the end of the 9th matchday in the Bundesliga and inflicted their first away defeat of the season on the Hanseatic League.

After their disappointing cup appearance in Frankfurt, Gladbach celebrated their third home win in a row and surpassed Bremen in the table with 13 points. In front of 50,000 spectators, Alassane Plea (11th), Marco Friedl (12th/own goal), Franck Honorat (45th) and Kevin Stöger (67th) scored the goals for the hosts. National player Kleindienst played a key role in many successful offensive campaigns.

The guests, who had reached the round of 16 in the DFB Cup with a 1-0 win at SC Paderborn during the week, were particularly disappointing across the board in the first half and scored their only goal through Keke Topp (75′). In the 82nd minute, Mitchell Weiser also saw a yellow-red card. Bremen have been waiting for a league win at Borussia Park for 14 years.

Only a few chances, no goals: SC Freiburg and FSV Mainz 05 finished goalless in the Bundesliga. It was the first draw for the sports club under the leadership of coach Julian Schuster, and the Rheinhessen remain unbeaten abroad. Both teams got involved in many duels, but the 34,400 spectators hardly saw any great scoring opportunities.

Freiburg ended the 9th matchday in sixth place. With the point they underlined their European Cup ambitions ahead of Friday’s game at 1. FC Union Berlin. Mainz, on the other hand, is still stuck in the bottom half of the table.

FSV coach Bo Henriksen caused the first surprise before kick-off. In the press conference he explained that national attacker Jonathan Burkardt would not be available due to a muscle injury. The risk of a long-term failure is too great, said the coach. A bluff, as it turned out when the starting eleven was announced. Burkardt stormed and took the first corner for the guests after eleven minutes, but it did not cause any danger.

“It may be that the game is not a treat for outsiders, but rather a lot of work and fighting,” SC coach Julian Schuster had suspected in advance and was correct in his assumption. Both teams were initially careful not to make any mistakes.

Overall, the Breisgau team was the more determined team. After half an hour they countered in their own stadium. Eren Dinkci fed Junior Adamu, who was free-standing but failed by the brilliantly reacting hundredweight – by far the greatest opportunity.

The hard-fought game took place mainly in midfield because both teams could hardly come up with anything creative. Only Nadiem Amiri checked Atubolu again after almost an hour. Even the changes of both coaches did not change the course of the game.