Werder Bremen vs Borussia Dortmund preview: Not too much to play for on the final day | OneFootball

Werder Bremen

It may have taken much longer than they would have wanted, but Werder Bremen finally officially secured safety last week.

They weren’t the ones who deserve credit for it, though. Bremen had been beaten once again, this time falling to Hoffenheim on the road. Things could not have started worse. In only the 2nd minute of the contest, fullback Yukinari Sugawara flew into a challenge and wiped out an opposing player.

VAR stepped in to have the referee take a look, and replays clearly showed Sugawara planting his cleats onto the leg of the opponent. While it wasn’t dirty or evil, it was reckless, and he was deservedly sent off. Hoffenheim took control of proceedings, opening the scoring midway through the half following a quick-corner that set up Bazoumana Touré.

Despite all this, Werder didn’t play too badly. They even managed to carve out a few opportunities for themselves, and more clinical decision-making in the final third would have seen them get at least one back. That’s not what happened, however, and they ultimately lost 1-0.

That meant they had to turn their eyes elsewhere. One of their relegation rivals was playing at the same time, and fortunately for Bremen they were also losing. St. Pauli trailed RB Leipzig, and even though they got one back, they were ultimately beaten. 

Up next was Wolfsburg, who had the late game that day. Few gave them any chance at home to champions Bayern Munich, but the wolves played pretty well. However, despite creating an xG of over 3, they never found the back of the net. Instead, Michael Olise scored a screamer to steal a 1-0 win for his side.

Just like that, Bremen earned their place in the Bundesliga for another season. They were both thrilled and relieved to not have any worries going into the final day, especially considering how this campaign has gone. The club is out of the woods.

There will be a ton of pressure on the front office to get things right in the summer to avoid another dance with disaster. However, they can’t do that quite yet since there is still a game remaining. It’s hard to forecast how tough the challenge will be, as Borussia Dortmund are very good, but they are completely stuck in 2nd with zero to play for.

Werder, meanwhile, can at least make some moves in the table. They are level on points with FC Koln, who have to travel to Bayern Munich. That means that a point will likely be enough to make a short jump up to 14th. If they win big and Borussia Mönchengladbach get battered by Hoffenheim, then even 13th place will be available.

Either way, Werder will be aiming to give their home fans one last win at the Weserstadion this season and end this nightmarish campaign on a high.

Team news

Bremen will be missing the likes of Karl Hein, Keke Topp, Mitchell Weiser, and Julian Malatini, while defenders Niklas Stark and Maximilian Wober are doubts for the fixture. The aforementioned Sugawara is suspended.

Predicted lineups

Backhaus, Agu, Pieper, Friedl, Deman, Puertas, Lynen, Stage, Schmid, Mbangula, Musah 

Borussia Dortmund

This season is a weird one to judge for Borussia Dortmund.

Their campaign is practically over at this point. They secured 2nd place what feels like ages ago, comfortably better than the rest of the Champions League chasing pack but also nowhere near Bayern Munich at the very top of the league table. In Europe they ended the UCL group stage nearly right in the middle, and then bottled a 2-0 advantage going into the second leg of the playoff round, getting eliminated via a stoppage time penalty kick.

Even when they won games, BVB supporters were not thrilled with the manner in which they did so. The team has become a surprisingly solid one. That should be celebrated, as they have the best defense in the entire league. Their goals scored total isn’t bad either, around the same as the rest of the top five.

The issue is that Dortmund has had too many matches where they failed to impress. They didn’t create enough chances, or they didn’t finish the ones they had. Their focus was on stopping the opposition, not playing the classic frantic style of attacking football. 

At the very least they had a fun one last time out. They sent their fanbase at the Westfalenstadion away happy, putting three goals past Eintracht Frankfurt with the final one scored by 18-year-old talent Samuele Inácio. 

How seriously Dortmund treats this contest remains to be seen. They’ll roll out some of the squad players, put up a bit of a fight, and try to end the season with some added momentum going into the summer. Who knows, maybe a lineup full of players trying to prove a point to management will end up playing the most thrilling brand of soccer so far.

Team news

BVB are only going to be without Emre Can and Ramy Bensebaini due to injury. 

Predicted lineups

Kobel, Reggiani, Anton, Schlotterbeck, Ryerson, Ozcan, Bellingham, Beier, Brandt, Inacio, Adeyemi