Werder Bremen vs. Freiburg: Final score 2-3, Freiburg is knocking on Champions League’s door after Bremen win

Freiburg moved three points closer to a Champions League place on Saturday, coming away with a 3-2 victory against Werder Bremen.

Max Kruse put Freiburg ahead in the 36th minute off a throw-in. Jan Rosenthal headed the ball into the path of Kruse, and his side volley from the top of the box went into the bottom right corner out of the reach of Sebastian Mielitz to make it 1-0 for the visitors.

Bremen wasted no time finding an equalizer. Kevin De Bruyne picked up the ball and raced through midfield, putting the defense on the back foot. His pass found the feet of Nils Petersen, and the forward tucked the ball around the charging Oliver Baumann and into the back of the net. The goal is the 10th of the season for Petersen.

Daniel Caligiuri was active at the start of the second half and had a shot saved by Mielitz. A few minutes later, he dribbled into the box and was felled by Aleksandar Ignjovski. The referee whistled for a penalty to the dismay of the Bremen defenders. Replays showed that the referee was correct as Caligiuri was just inside the penalty area when he was fouled. Caligiuri stepped up to take his own penalty and finished to give Freiburg the 2-1 lead.

Petersen grabbed his second of the match in the 64th minute in rather comical fashion. Freiburg’s players checked out on a cross from Marko Arnautovic. Baumann came out for the ball and missed badly leaving Petersen for a tap-in and the 2-2 score.

The next few minutes were back and forth with the post hit by both sides. Freiburg’s Karim Guédé struck the outside of the post after he broke free along the left hand side. On the other end, Petersen almost grabbed his hat trick, but his header from De Bruyne’s corner struck the post.

Freiburg grabbed a 3-2 lead in the 71st minute. Guédé struck the crossbar following a corner kick. However, teammate Matthias Ginter was on hand to knock in the rebound. They held on for all three points.