Hertha BSC and Werder Bremen played to a 1-1 draw to start the second week of the new Bundesliga season in front of a sold-out Olympia Stadion.
After just five minutes in tonight's match, Valentin Stocker scored the opening goal, igniting the Olympiastadion even further. Following a set piece opportunity, Werder Bremen failed to clear their lines and the ball fell to the Swiss international as he ripped it into the roof of the goal.
Despite the early goal, the chances came few and far between as the two sides looked likey they would not find many opportunities during this 90 minute match. On 15 minutes, Genki Haraguchi weaved past one defender, then another down that right hand side of the pitch before floating a dangerous cross inside the area. The ball nearly struck the head of one his teammates, but it just missed and Bremen avoided any danger this time around.
Three minutes later and Hertha BSC were on the attack again. A deep cross into the 18 yard box forced Jannik Vestergaard into a diving header, which went out for a corner, to avoid further damage.
Bremen find the equalizer
Just shy of the half hour mark and Anthony Ujah scored his first goal in the green and white shirt, leveling things at one all. 19-year-old Ulisses Garcia, in his first season in the Bundesliga with very few starts for Swiss side Grasshoper, was the key man in the build-up for tis goal. His cross from the left was a dangerous one and the hosts could not defended it. Ujah got on the end of the ball and beat Thomas Kraft after a terrifc finish.
Right near half time, Maximilian Eggestein wanted a penalty called for Werder Bremen. Stegemann was having none of it and allowed the play to continue as the visitors still won a corner out of the play.
HT: Hertha BSC 1-1 Werder Bremen
The start of the second half was a little like how the first half ended, very few chances created as it looked like both sides really tightened up on the defensive side of the ball. Five minutes after the halftime interval, however, Stocker nearly found his second of the night. Assani Lukimya closed him down with some speed and deflected the shot that still barely missed the far post.
Stocker was again involved in the action in the 55th minute. This time, his first touch let him down and the ball bounced into the arms of Felix Wiedwald.
Eight minutes after the hour mark and Ujah was one vs. one against Kraft and the Hertha shot stopper came up huge again. Luckily, the Nigerian was flagged for offside even though it looked like he was level.
As the match was winding down, Werder Bremen were piling on the pressure. In the span of sixty seconds, they hit the woodwork twice. The first time, Sebastian Langkamp headed the ball off his own cross-bar and back out.
This result was probably fair as both sides had multiple opportunities to win the match but just lacked that killer instinct in front of goal. For now, Hertha sit in the top spot in the league on four points, but that will certainly change with every other match still to play this weekend. Werder Bremen will be happy as they now have a point and can continue to push on from here.