Werder Bremen upset RB Leipzig before the winter break and put a stop to their winning streak

SV Werder Bremen upset RB Leipzig before the winter break and halted the cup winners' winning streak. The hosts fought out a 1:1 (0:0) draw in a varied game on Tuesday evening. The Saxons missed out on at least temporarily catching up with second-placed FC Bayern on points in the Bundesliga table after four consecutive competitive wins. Lois Openda (47') had put the visitors ahead, Justin Njinmah (75') scored the deserved equalizer. Neither team could be really satisfied, but neither could be really unhappy. Werder climbed past VfL Bochum to 13th place at the start of matchday 16.

There was not much to see of Bremen's rather offensive choice of personnel at first. Leipzig, led by Emil Forsberg as captain in his last game for RB, initially dictated what happened on the pitch and especially in front of the hosts' goal. Less than 50 seconds had elapsed when Castello Lukeba, who had moved up, got at the feet of Anthony Jung's attempted clearance. The RB man-of-the-match shot hit the post.

A minute of silence before kick-off

The Weserstadion stands took a deep breath before the final Bundesliga kick-off of the year. The Werder fans remembered the Israeli Inbar Haiman, who died after being kidnapped and held captive by Hamas. Haiman was a supporter of Maccabi Haifa and the Werder Bremen Ultras have a fan friendship with the club.

The Bremen fans were treated to an opening phase against Leipzig in which coach Ole Werner's team only managed to relieve the pressure at certain points. The cup winners from Saxony controlled the game too much. A long-range shot from Leipzig-born Leonardo Bittencourt missed the visitors' goal after just over 20 minutes. At the other end, Michael Zetterer was able to clear a shot from Xavi Simons a little later on.

RB also wavered at times

The fact that Leipzig are always susceptible in defense despite recent good results and good performances is not only proven by the last ten games up to the Bremen match, in which the team conceded at least one goal. It was also evident on the Weser Stadium pitch.

After just over half an hour, however, Bremen missed several chances - the best through Felix Agu (32'), whose attempt was cleared off the line by Lukeba, and Jens Stage, whose volley went over the goal (35'). It was the phase in which RB wavered, but then suddenly celebrated. A header from Yussuf Poulsen after a rebound off the post landed in the net. However, the Dane was slightly offside when Amadou Haidara shot. The score remained 0-0 at the break.

Duck shot grazes the crossbar

But not for long after the break. After Forsberg had scored and set up a goal in the 3-1 win over TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Saturday, the future Red Bull New York pro set up Openda's goal with a fine pass. However, the Belgian needed more than one attempt to get the ball in, even though Bremen looked anything but confident in the scene - especially not Christian Groß.

Openda's missed chance took its revenge

However, they were determined not to continue their poor run of six defeats against Leipzig and stepped up the pressure again. A shot from international Marvin Ducksch grazed the crossbar (55').

A few minutes later, Forsberg's era finally came to an end after nine years when he left the pitch after a good hour. Coach Marco Rose was the first to hug the Swede on the sidelines, while the fans chanted Forsberg's name. His teammates now had to make sure that he would say goodbye with a win. Openda missed the opportunity to calm his nerves a little later on. And that paid off when Njinmah took the measure.