Bremen blunders in the fight for Europe

A tough game with a fair point split: Werder Bremen missed a chance to make a statement in the fight for European football with a 0-0 draw against St. Pauli on Sunday (April 27, 2025). The Kiez-Kickers are now six points ahead of the relegation zone and are moving closer to staying in the league with three games remaining.

Werder captain Marco Friedl admitted after the final whistle on the Sportschau microphone: "That wasn't enough. We played poorly in the first half, we didn't get anything going forward. The second half was better, but ultimately it wasn't enough to win a Bundesliga match."

St. Pauli coach Alexander Blessin analyzed: "In the first half, we played really well, played compactly, and conceded few goals. We also had solutions with the ball, but we should have looked for more shots. In the second half, we lacked clarity, and we had to suffer until the final whistle—but the point feels good."

His colleague Ole Werner lamented: "We had the better chances over 90 minutes and deserved to win. But in the first half, we didn't play the way we had imagined."

The visitors had the first big chance of the game after a spectacular combination play with a double one-two in the 7th minute. However, Werder goalkeeper Michael Zetterer narrowed the angle well against Philipp Treu. Shortly afterward, Zetterer was beaten, but Carlo Boukhalfa's celebration was brief – he had been offside when David Nemeth played a through ball.

It wasn't until the tenth minute that Bremen gained more stability in midfield, becoming less easily overrun, but they continued to struggle going forward. Things only got a little tense in front of the Pauli goal in the 25th minute, when Jens Stage blocked a fierce free-kick from Marvin Ducksch. The ball went over the bar, and the linesman's flag shot up—but it was level.

After that, the game completely flattened out again, before five minutes before the break there was another offside situation: Stage volleyed in after a deflected shot from Romano Schmid, but this time the Dane was clearly in the forbidden zone.

Even after the break, the game remained short of chances before St. Pauli had the first chance: First, Marco Friedl blocked Noah Weißhaupt's shot just before the goal line, then Nemeth put his second attempt just wide of the post.

This seemed to be a wake-up call for Werder Bremen, who noticeably increased the pressure after just under an hour. But first, Justin Njinmah's powerful 16-meter shot was denied by a quick-reacting Nikola Vasilj. Seconds later, Njinmah found himself completely unmarked in front of the Pauli keeper after a through ball from Ducksch, but he pushed the ball wide of the right post.

With 20 minutes left, Bremen had some defensive luck. Saad burst into the Werder penalty area after a powerful solo run and was hit on the ankle by Friedl. The contact was clear, but referee Tobias Reichel didn't award a penalty – and, surprisingly, VAR Daniel Siebert didn't intervene either.

He clearly had enough offside calls to deal with that evening. And he was called upon once again: In the 80th minute, the foghorn sounded again. Substitute Oliver Burke had confidently converted Schmid's next superb pass – but the Scotsman also had his toe a few centimeters too far forward at the moment of passing.

Werder Bremen visits Berlin on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m.). St. Pauli hosts VfB Stuttgart on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m.).

• football
• SV Werder Bremen
• FC St. Pauli