3:2 - Kagawa, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan put the icing on the cake after the great fightback

Report by Dennis-Julian Gottschlich

The 80 667 fans in the sold out SIGNAL IDUNA PARK made sure that both Jürgen Klopp and Sebastian Kehl had a highly emotional and exciting last appearance in front of their home crowd – and the team also added their bit. After a furious start with several big chances and a shot against the post by Aubameyang (9^th minute), Kagawa (15^th minute) and Aubameyang (17^th minute) gave BVB an early 2-0 lead. Öztunali got one back for Werder (26^th minute), but the very strong Mkhitaryan increased the lead to 3-1 before the break (42^nd minute). BVB missed quite a few good chances in the second half to increase their lead even more. Gabre Selassi scored again for Werder just before the end of the game (85^th minute).

The Scenario:
Seventeenth against sixteenth was the scenario before the two teams met in the first half of the season. Now it was seventh against eighth. Borussia only needed a draw in order to secure seventh place and to qualify for Europe. Werder on the other hand had to win and hope that Wolfsburg win the Cup Final.

Personnel Matters:
Großkreutz (knee operation), Ramos (ankle injury) and Sahin (tendon) were also missing for the final league game of the season. Reus was back from the start, Hummels and Weidenfeller also returned to the starting line-up. Kehl lead the team out onto the pitch in his last game in the SIGNAL IDUNA PARK as the captain. Werder travelled without Bargfrede (ankle), Selke (groin injury), Fritz (calf injury), Galvez (knee injury), Garcia (patellar tendon), Yildirim (meniscus injury) and Lorenzen (just started back in training).

Tactics:
BVB played in their usual 4-2-3-1 system and attacked over the wings again and again, whereby Mkhitaryan on the one side and Reus on the other caused problems for the Bremen defence. Kagawa and Aubameyang playing through the middle also constantly posed a threat to Werder. Werder played in a 4-1-4-1 formation, whereby Di Santo was often left out on a limb up front.

The Game & Analysis:
BVB started at a furious pace, they were right at it from the kick-off and put Bremen under pressure straight away. After just two minutes Mkhitaryan was played free over the right and he was thwarted by the good reaction save of Casteels from a fairly tight angle. The pace stayed the same and just a few moments later Reus came into the penalty area from the left, passed the ball back into the middle from the bye-line, where Aubameyang just managed to miss and then Mkhitaryan got a shot in, however Vestergaard managed to block the shot.

The Bremen centre back was in the midst of the action again on several occasions in the scenes that were to follow. First of all when Kehl won a ball in midfield and sent Mkhitaryan on his way straight away. Vestergaard just managed to clear the ball for a corner in the last minute from Aubameyang after a pass from Mkhitaryan (3^rd minute). Then just a few minutes later the stadium started rocking for the first time – and not the last time – on this afternoon. Gündogan intercepted a terrible mishit pass by Verstergaard in the Bremen half, switched straight to attack and passed the ball square to Kagawa on the sixteen yard line. Kagawa nutmegged Lukimya and put the ball into the right corner to make it 1-0 (15^th minute).

Mkhitaryan counters Öztunali

However Borussia still wanted more: after another mistake by Bremen when trying to mount an attack, Aubameyang played a one-two with Kagawa, he then appeared unmarked in front of Casteels and then put the ball away into the far corner (17^th minute). Within two minutes BVB was all set for a win and that meant international football next season, but then they had to collect themselves again when Öztunali got hold of the ball 12 metres from goal after a nice Bremen combination, quickly turned and scored past Weidenfeller, who was coming out of goal at speed, to get a goal back and make it 1-2 (26^th minute). Werder could have equalised two times after that, but Weidenfeller came out of his goal on both occasions just at the right time and saved from the fast advancing Di Santo (33^rd and 36^th minute).

Reus yet again had the chance to increase the lead, but Casteels saved his shot from a half right position (40^th minute). Shortly thereafter Mkhitaryan, who really caught the eye, made it 3-1, after Gündogan had started another attack when he won the ball in his own penalty area and Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang ran at Casteels unmarked and he beat the Bremen keeper with a fine lob into the far corner (42^nd minute). The team from Westphalia very much deserved their clear lead at half time. Borussia’s stats spoke for themselves: 14:3 shots on goal, 57 per cent of challenges won and 63 per cent possession.

After the break, the tempo of the first 45 minutes hardly diminished. BVB was still vastly superior, they stood tight at the back and waited for gaps to exploit in attack. These gaps opened up again and again. Vestergaard just got to the ball at the last moment in front of Reus (49^th minute), who then got a shot in from 16 metres, but could not beat Casteels (53^rd minute). Aubameyang also just hit the ball over the crossbar with a bicycle kick (61^st minute) and should have scored into an empty goal two minutes later after a cross from Reus, but instead managed to put the ball into the middle, where Mkhitaryan hit the crossbar from 6 metres (63^rd minute). On two more occasions Aubameyang could not beat Casteels after two counter attacks, once being thwarted by Casteels (67^th minute) and then shooting over the goal (76^th minute). Gabre Selassi then gave Werder a glimmer of a hope just before the final whistle after a Junuzovic free kick (85^th minute). The score remained at 3-2, because substitute Immobile shot over the goal in the last minute (90^th minute).

Prospects:
One more game before BVB can start the summer break: next Saturday (kick-off: 20:00hrs) BVB faces VfL Wolfsburg in the DFB Cup Final in the Berlin Olympic Stadium.

Teams and Goals