Claudio Pizarro scored twice in two minutes to help Werder Bremen steal a point away from Hertha Berlin as the two sides split six goals at the Weserstadion.

In the 14th minute, Werder Bremen got their first look in front of goal through Florian Grillitsch which was blocked by Mitchell Weiser. Rune Jarstein had to pull out a magnificent save after 20 minutes, stopping a Grillitsch shot. He left a big rebound that Weiser was able to clear out of harm’s way.

Hertha score twice in the opening half

Salomon Kalou had a 28th minute header off of a corner deflected off a Bremen defender for a second corner, which did not pan out exactly as they had hoped. But a minute later, Vladimir Darida hit an absolutely sensational shot from long range that found its way into the top left corner of goal to give the hosts the early one-nil advantage. 

Following the goal, Hertha started to control the match as they looked more confident in the final third of the pitch. With halftime looming, Darida tried to cut a pass back towards the middle of the area but it got cut out by a Bremen defender.

There was a second goal scored in the opening half for Hertha after the capital club had won a free kick in a dangerous area of the pitch, just outside the eighteen yard box. Marvin Plattenhardt stood of the ball and whipped in a shot that curled past a hopeless Felix Wiedwald as he could not do anything to stop the shot.

Photo: Getty
Photo: Getty

Deep into stoppage time, Werder Bremen had a couple of set piece opportunities that they could have converted. The first one was a strike off the foot of Anthony Ujah that was stopped very well by the Norwegian goalkeeper; the corner that occurred immediately afterwards got cleared away easily by the Hertha defense.

Five minutes after the restart and Kalou let fly from inside the area, however, his curling effort did not curl enough and it fell well wide of the frame of the goal. Ujah turned nicely, in the 58th minute, to free up a bit of space before unleashing a right-footed shot that missed the near post by only a couple of inches.

Fin Bartles gave the Werder Bremen supporters something to cheer for in the 67th minute, when he cut Hertha’s lead in half. He picked the ball up near the halfway line and dribbled all the way to the 18 yard box and placed the ball right in behind Jarstein.

That two goal lead though would be restored four minutes later. Johannes van den Bergh whipped in a sensational low cross that evaded a couple of Werder Bremen defenders and fell to Salomon Kalou who merely tapped the ball into the back of the net in what was his tenth goal of the campaign.

Pizarro scores brace in two minutes

The action came fast and thick in the closing stages of the match. Werder Bremen were awarded a penalty after a couple of reckless challenges came in from Lustenberger on Ujah. Pizarro stepped up to the stop and made no mistake from 12 yards out. A second goal came from Pizarro two minutes later and this one leveled the match.

Werder Bremen absolutely deserved to level this match as they dominated possession in the final third of the pitch in the final half an hour and are able to inch closer away from the drop zone as a result. 

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