Well, that’s all for tonight’s blog. It was enjoyable enough, and with each passing game it feels a little less strange. See you at the weekend, all being well, for another round of matches. Thanks for your company - goodnight!
“I note the cameras cut away from the last celebration,” says Liz White. “Playing football probably isn’t, strictly speaking, safe. In Germany where there’s less community transmission, it’s possibly safe-ish. I guess since football is one of the most visible re-openings, it’s good for them to model not hugging and jumping all over each other.”
Aren’t they all being tested every day? I know what you mean about the celebrations but they have generally been very restrained. Every now and then, players are going to forget themselves in the excitement of the moment. I’m not sure you can eradicate that.
Full time: Werder Bremen 1-4 Bayer Leverkusen
Leverkusen pick up where they left off before spring break with a crushing victory. Kai Havertz scored two first-half headers, Mitchell Weiser added another and Kerem Demirbay finished things off with a lovely goal. Bremen were not dreadful; they were just outclassed.
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90 min Two minutes.
89 min Baumgartlinger’s cross is shanked towards his own goal by Maximilian Eggestein, forcing Pavlenka to change direction and tip it over the bar. That was a fine reaction save.
87 min Tapsoba sets Leverkusen on the counter with a smooth interception and pass out of defence. He looks a fine prospect, although tonight hasn’t been the stiffest test.
85 min More substitutions.
- Bremen: Fin Bartels and Yuya Osako for Rashica and Vogt.
- Leverkusen: Paulinho and Lucas Alario for Havertz and Aranguiz.
81 min After a slow start, Leverkusen have been really impressive. They’ve now won 13 of their last 15 games in all competitions and are only a point behind RB Leipzig in fourth.
GOAL! Werder Bremen 1-4 Bayer Leverkusen (Demirbay 78)
Lovely goal. The substitute Bellarabi moves infield from the right and flicks a no-look through pass with the outside of the right foot to find Demirbay in the area. He waits for Pavlenka to go down and dinks the ball gently over him.
77 min “Looks like compliance with the ‘non-contact’ celebration rule didn’t last very long,” says Ron Stack. “Hard to tell the difference between pre- and post-lockdown versions after Leverkusen’s last goal. Doubt it will be much different when PL restarts. Not being prudish here, but it makes the football organizations look unserious, and their plans unrealistic.”
I’m probably missing something, but I don’t understand the fuss over celebrations. Either the game is safe, in which case they can celebrate goals with a game of Twister if they like, or it isn’t. That said, it does still feel like a big problem is lurking in plain sight, presumably to reveal itself the moment the Premier League resumes.
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76 min Friedl is booked for a foul on Bellarabi.
75 min Johannes Eggestein moves into the area, chops back onto his left foot and has a shot blocked. Bremen have had their moments, despite being outclassed by a fine Leverkusen side, and based on tonight I wouldn’t write them off as relegation certainties.
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72 min “Your 53rd minute reference to that German player ‘breaking dangerous’ gives me an idea for a Netflix series,” says Ian Copestake.
Is it like The A-Team?
71 min Two more changes for Bremen: Joshua Sargent and Nick Woltemade replace Bittencourt and Selke. And another for Leverkusen: Julian Baumgartlinger replaces Amiri. Hit the music.
70 min The resulting corner, curled in from the right by Demirbay, skims off the head of a Bremen defender at the near post and flies just wide of the far post.
69 min Havertz, who is on a hat-trick, clips a shot that deflects just wide off Gebre Selassie.
66 min Sinkgraven’s sharp low cross finds Bailey, who whips a shot into the side netting at the near post. This could get ugly for Bremen.
64 min Bellarabi’s stinging low shot is palmed away by Pavlenka, but only to Havertz, whose follow-up shot is blocked.
63 min A couple of changes for Leverkusen: Leon Nailey and Karim Bellarabi replace Moussa Diaby and the 17-year-old debutant Florian Wirtz. Diaby was terrific, making two goals; Wirtz, though understandably peripheral, produced a few touches of class.
62 min Just before the goal, the impressive Gebre Selassie’s cross fell just behind the flat-footed Selke. And moments after the goal, Maximilian Eggestein shot wide from the edge of the area after an inviting cutback from Selke. He should have done better there, though he might have slipped as he made contact.
GOAL! Werder Bremen 1-3 Bayer Leverkusen (Weiser 61)
Moments after Bremen almost equalise, Leverkusen double their lead. It was again created by Diaby, who teased a lofted cross towards the six-yard line from the left side of the area. The right-back Mitchell Weiser, arriving late, slammed a downward header past Pavlenka.
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59 min There has been a difference in class throughout this game, and it feels like a matter of time before Leverkusen get a third.
57 min “Another good idea from hockey: an organ player!” says Liz White. “Every arena has an organ player to lead the crowd between plays. One organist used to play Three Blind Mice as the ref and linesmen took the ice. I await your comment.”
I’ve heard worse. (NB: clip contains adult language.)
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56 min Vogt waves an elbow in the direction of Amiri - it didn’t really connect - and then has words with the Leverkusen bench. He’s not exactly high on life right now.
54 min The first substitution: Johannes Eggestein, whose brother Maximilian is already on the pitch, replaces Bargfrede for Bremen.
53 min Moisander is booked for a foul on Havertz, who was breaking dangerous down the right. Havertz is still only 20. Germany have found another one, haven’t they.
49 min A poor touch from Demirbay ends a promising attack from Leverkusen, who have made a fast start to the second half.
48 min “We should spare a thought,” says Ian Copestake, “for those frontline workers in the commentary box having to decide whether to go full redbull and fill the silence with inanities or just do a snooker commentary. Oh and that’s a bad miss.”
It must be even harder when they’re commentating from home, forever living in fear that the doorbell will ring and the dog will go off on one.
47 min Leverkusen almost grab a third. Diaby’s through ball finds Havertz on the left of the box; his attempted cutback is blocked by the keeper Pavlenka, and then Demirbay’s follow-up cross is headed clear.
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46 min Good play from Eggestein, who slaloms past a defender on the edge of the Leverkusen box and hits a shot that is blocked by Sven Bender.
46 min “Clubs using this crisis as an opportunity to introduce music during the match is worrying,” says Colin Flint. “You can see it happening for substitutions with each player getting to choose their theme tune. I think baseball players had/have this when they come up to bat. Music already destroys the atmosphere. I can’t stand the blaring of ‘Blaydon Races just before kick-off at St James’ Park as you can’t hear the crowd.”
What’s the harm in a bit of music to announce every change, in association with our official substitution partner?
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46 min Peep peep! Bremen begin the second half.
Half-time reading
Half time: Werder Bremen 1-2 Bayer Leverkusen
Peep peep! Leverkusen lead through two headers from the prolific Kai Havertz, who is playing up front tonight. They have dominated possession throughout, though Bremen have had their moments on the counter-attack and Leonardo Bittencourt should have equalised shortly before half-time.
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45 min Or perhaps not. Gebre Selassie flashes a dangerous ball across the face of goal, just in front of Rashica; and then Selke’s hopeful long-range header loops over the bar.
45 min Bremen look like they need the half-time break. They’ve spent most of the half shuffling left and right, trying to keep their defensive shape.
44 min “I haven’t been this enthused about German Football since I found out about the phrase ‘Die Mannschaft’,” says Matt Dony. “Actually, that’s a lie. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Bundesliga, but I try not to sound like a hipster. (That ship might have sailed.)
“I still can’t think of Leverkusen without seeing Ballack on the edge of the area, dummying a shot on his right, and Gerrard buying the dummy with such ferocious commitment he’d almost left the stadium by the time Ballack scored with his left. A sad memory, but it led indirectly to THAT Zidane volley. So I guess it all worked out in the end.”
NO IT EFFING DIDN’T.
43 min Sven Bender is booked for a hapless lunge at Bittencourt.
39 min: Bittencourt misses a great chance! Bremen should be level. Veljkovic played a fine pass, straight down the middle, to put Bittencourt through on goal. He took the ball nicely in his stride on the edge of the area but then smashed his shot into orbit.
39 min “Watching in Canada,” says Eli Whi. “In hockey games, there’s music every time play stops until it resumes (new song each time, not a whole song in snippets. Rarely Seven Nation Army.) Of course there’s more stops because there’s a faceoff each time the goalie holds the puck. Maybe something like that. If they play music all the time, it’d be too much like a school fun day.”
We can’t be having music during the match, surely. Anyway, I think we’ll adjust to the lack of atmosphere pretty quickly.
38 min Rashica cuts infield from the left and shoots a few yards wide.
35 min “Another solution would be to pipe the crowd noise from a previous match,” says Colin Flint. “But would the crowd’s reaction to that game dictate the outcome of the current one? Would, say, using crowd noise from a certain Newcastle-Arsenal game force a tempo producing a 4-4 thriller. Would piping in a dreary 0-0 game produce another insipid match. One for the meta-physicians, perhaps?”
34 min Havertz’s second goal was another header, it says here, a simple finish from Demirbay’s free-kick.
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GOAL! Werder Bremen 1-2 Bayer Leverkusen (Havertz 33)
Havertz has scored his second! At least the internet tells me he has!
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32 min We’re having some technical problems. What can you do, eh? Miss a third goal, that’s what!
It was a fine finish from the right back Theodor Gebre Selassie. He got in front of his man at the near post to meet Battencourt’s low corner and flicked it deftly past Hradecky.
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GOAL! Werder Bremen 1-1 Bayer Leverkusen (Gebre Selassie 30)
Bremen equalise straight away!
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GOAL! Werder Bremen 0-1 Bayer Leverkusen (Havertz 28)
Kai Havertz gives Leverkusen the lead! He’d barely touched the ball in the first 27 minutes. It was made by Moussa Diaby, who beat his man with ease on the right and stood up a deep cross to the far post. Havertz, who had to backpedal to meet the ball, steered a good header past Pavlenka.
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27 min Another corner for Leverkusen. This one is taken short and returned to Amiri, whose low shot from ther left edge of the box is palmed round the near post by the diving Pavlenka. It was a comfortable enough save.
26 min Leverkusen win their first corner (I think). It’s headed away.
24 min Demirbay tries to play a give-and-go on the edge of the Bremen area but the return pass is intercepted. Bremen’s defensive organisation has been excellent so far; they look like a Roy Hodgson team.
20 min Bremen are defending very deep, sometimes with all 10 outfield players behind the ball. For all Leverkusen’s possession, the Bremen keeper Jiri Pavlenka has had little to do.
18 min At the other end, Sinkgraven’s excellent curling cross from the left just evades the leaping Havertz at the near post.
17 min Rashica’s cross deflects behind for the first corner. It’s headed on at the near post by Gebre Selassie and headed wide by the under-pressure Moisander. It wasn’t much of a chance.
15 min “Commentators are rightly fixated on the lack of crowd noise,” says Walker Boyd. “Music is an obvious solution. Mogwai’s excellent soundtrack to Zidane: a 21st Century Portrait could be an inspiration.”
I was a bit disappointed that they decided against piping in a few bars of Seven Nation Army every time a team won a throw-in.
12 min Bremen’s main man Rashica has his first run, skedaddling down the left and hitting a cross that is blocked.
9 min Diaby’s driven cross is well held by the tumbling Pavlenka. This looks ominous for Bremen.
8 min Nice play from young Wirtz, who loses Friedl with a smart turn and finds Diaby on the left side of the area. His cross is headed away.
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6 min Leverkusen make a rare and unsuccessful foray into the final third, with Demirbay’s cross drifting through to the keeper Pavlenka.
5 min Tapsoba finds Sven Bender, who picks out the unmarked Tapsoba. He looks up and plays a square pass back to Bender. I feel dizzy.
4 min So anyway, what’s surprised you the most about lockdown?
3 min The two Leverkusen centre-halves, Sven Bender and Tapsoba, have had about 80 per cent of the touches so far. It’s almost hypnotic watching them pass the ball from side to side.
2 min The 17-year-old debutant Wirtz gets in an early cross from the right that is punted clear.
2 min A quiet start to the game, with lots of Leverkusen possession in deeper areas.
1 min Peep peep! Leverkusen, in red, kick off from left to right. Bremen are in green.
Here’s an email from Peter Oh on the subject of Bremen’s pre-Covid form.
“It must be particularly galling for a club that features a prominent W in its badge to have a form guide that reads LLLLD.”
The first email of the night … comes from our old friend Ian ‘Jaunty’ McCourt, who made the Guardian sports desk a happier place until he escaped a few years ago.
“You know you’re hip,” he writes, “when you are MBMing Bremen v Leverkusen on a Monday night.”
I know language is evolving apace, but since when was hip a synonym of desperate?
17y, 15d - With 17 years and 15 days of age, Florian #Wirtz will become @bayer04_en's youngest player in their #Bundesliga history and the third youngest overall behind @nurisahin (16y, 11m, 1d) and Yann Aurel Bisseck (16y, 11m, 28d). Generations. #SVWB04 pic.twitter.com/PXUyAk8VxB
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) May 18, 2020
Pre-match reading
“Gedämpfte Freude” – muffled joy – was how the headline in Monday’s edition of Kicker put it, set across a photo of Borussia Dortmund’s players saluting a cavernous, empty Südtribune after their emphatic 4-0 Revierderby win over Schalke on Saturday afternoon.
Team news
Florian Wirtz, an attacking midfielder who only turned 17 earlier this month, makes his first-team debut for Leverkusen. He becomes the youngest player to appear for Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, a record that was held by Kai Havertz, and the third youngest for any record.
Nuri Sahin, who holds the overall record, is on the Bremen bench tonight, wondering what happened.
Werder Bremen (4-3-3) Pavlenka; Gebre Selassie, Veljkovic, Moisander, Friedl; M Eggestein, Vogt, Bargfrede; Bittencourt, Selke, Rashica.
Substitutes: Kapino, Lang, Osako, Langkamp, Sahin, Sargent, Bartels, J Eggestein, Woltemade.
Bayer Leverkusen (4-2-3-1) Hradecky; Weiser, Tapsoba, S Bender, Sinkgraven; Aranguiz, Demirbay; Wirtz, Amiri, Diaby; Havertz.
Substitutes: Ozcan, Tah, Dragovic, Baumgartlinger, Palacios, Bellarabi, Paulinho, Bailey, Alario.
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Preamble
Pop quiz, hotshot: which team has spent the most seasons in the Bundesliga? The Mensa-botherers among you may have deduced that, with this being a liveblog about a match between Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen, the answer is likely to be either a) Werder Bremen or b) Bayer Leverkusen.
This is the 57th season since the Bundesliga was introduced in 1963-64. Bremen have been involved in 56 of them, one more than Bayern Munich and Hamburger SV. They’ve won it four times, too, so it’s pretty shocking to see the mess they’re in. (You may not have been aware of this mess until two minutes ago, but it’s okay: we’re all Bundesliga experts now.)
Bremen are second from bottom, have been for a while. They are nine points off complete safety and five off a relegation play-off place. And while they have two games in hand, one of them tonight, their points-per-game ratio so far this season suggests those matches are worth precisely 1.5 points.
They have a tough game tonight against a Leverkusen side whose form between the winter break and spring break was almost as good as Bayern Munich’s. It’s probably too late for a title challenge but they are are right in contention for next season’s Champions League. Leverkusen have some outstanding young players, including Jonathan Tah, Leon Bailey and the Kai Havertz, who may fill in up front in the absence of the injured Kevin Volland.
Bremen might benefit from the lack of a home crowd, because their form at the Weserstadion has been abysmal. They haven’t won a Bundesliga game there since the start of September; they haven’t even drawn one since the start of November. Not even a two-month absence due to a global pandemic can polish those statistics.
Kick off 7.30pm BST, 8.30pm CET.
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