Werder Bremen triumphed against Borussia Mönchengladbach at Borussia-Park with incredible 3-4 win to advance into the quarter-final.
Mellow start from both sides
A little surprise to the beginning of the crunch meeting of last 16 DFB-Pokal round, as Werder Bremen coach Viktor Skripnik put Claudio Pizarro back in the line-up next to Anthony Ujah and started with a dual strike force. There was some bad news for Borussia Mönchengladbach beforehand, because Tony Jantschke suffered a cruciate rupture and will be missing for Die Fohlen for around three months.
Referee Günter Perl blew the starting whistle with 15 minutes delay, due to many fans arriving late to the stadium, but they created an enveloping atmosphere at the start as the players started very mellow. Both teams started well structured and organised, but also with many individual mistakes, which means that the first chance in this match was in the tenth minute as Claudio Pizarro had a good possibility to net, but Yann Sommer saved it and also the rebound was parried by the Swiss.
Raffael had the very first chance for M'Gladbach in the 14th minute. After a wonderful pass by Granit Xhaka the Brazilian started sprinting to Bremen's goal, but Felix Wiedwald waited a long time and saved Raffael's shot sublime with his upper body.
Die Fohlen had a difficult start into this DFB-Pokal crunch meeting, because their guests stopped their attack with some fouls and good slide tackles and pressed very high to make it even harder for Borussia to create an effective build-up. Bremen's players were awake and tried to make their best out of mistakes by Andre Schubert's players and had some more, but harmless, shots on Sommer's goal.
Surprising lead for the hosts
Out of nowhere the hosts took the lead thanks to a goal by Lars Stindl in the 32th minute. Dahoud made a good run to the box and the following redirection by Hazard landed in front of Stindl's feet. He won an easy challenge to score this goal and bring his team in front against the rather dominating Bremer.
Quick turnaround in the second half
A few minutes after the restart, Janek Sternberg took heart and tried from the outside of the penalty area. Sommer had absolutely no chance to save the shot by the left-back as the 23-year-old equalised for Bremen and the match was open once again.
Raffael provided a great pass only five minutes after Bremen's equaliser as Hazard ran towards Wiedwald, but the Belgium had bad luck that this shot only hit the post. At a stroke, on the other side, two minutes later, a sharp free-kick by Grillitsch was saved by Sommer, but the ball bounced from the post directly in front of Vestergaard's feet and the Dane only needed to tap the ball in and turned the match on its head. The guests suddenly led 1-2.
After this, the match became a real cracker and chances were on both sides. Bremen's goalkeeper Wiedwald saved the lead against shots by Thorgan Hazard, who got a lot of space from Sternberg.
Gladbach needed time to get back into this match and the subbed-in Hrogta had a very good chance in the 71th minute, but goalscorer Vestergaard blocked him at the very last second. And only two minutes later, the Swede found the way to score for Die Fohlen. Raffael got the ball at midfield, passed to the striker and 22-year-old scored the equaliser.
Bremen with an incredible three-minute-show
But not long time later, Öztunali ran on the right wing, crossed the ball into the centre and Claudio Pizarro had way too much space in the penalty area. Pizarro's finish was not really good, but Swiss keeper Sommer had misfortune that the ball went through his legs and rolled into the goal. Bremen got the lead again and a surprise was near.
Once again, not even two minutes later, Grillitsch won the ball against Korb. The youngster, without pressure on him, played the ball to Ujah and the Nigerian striker didn't take too much time to score the unbelievable 2-4 lead for the guest.
Borussia didn't want to admit defeat and even got one back thanks to Hrgota, but the lead for Bremen was just too much, and despite all last offensive power, it was clear that the hosts conceded 13 goals and three losses in their last three matches.
Andre Schubert's power may have faded, but the Fohlenelf can get a good result against Darmstadt on the last Bundesliga matchday before Winter break. For Bremen, this win might be a saviour and Skripnik's team will face Eintracht Frankfurt on the 17th matchday at home. So, Borussia Mönchengladbach are surprisingly out of the DFB-Pokal and Werder Bremen through to quarter final.