It was in last season’s corresponding fixture that Leverkusen sealed the Bundesliga title with a thumping 5-0 victory. Florian Wirtz – scorer of a hat-trick that day – was left on the bench as Xabi Alonso shuffled his pack ahead of their UEFA Champions League clash against Bayern.
The hosts’ rotation resulted in a completely disjointed first-half performance, and the out-of-form Bremen needed just seven minutes to capitalise.
Ole Werner’s men worked the ball really well across the box, with Andre Silva finding Jens Stage, who smartly squared for Romano Schmid to score just his second goal of the season, with the previous strike coming in the reverse fixture.
Die Werkself were yet to have a shot of any description by the 20-minute mark, and there was little by way of improvement as the half went on. Emiliano Buendia’s low strike was comfortably saved by Michael Zetterer, shortly before Aleix Garcia’s stoppage-time free-kick came back off the crossbar.
Bremen even had the ball in the back of the net again ahead of break when Milos Veljkovic bundled home from close range, but his celebrations were cut short by the offside flag.
Xabi Alonso showed his displeasure with a triple change at half-time, which included the introduction of Wirtz. However, Leverkusen’s talisman lasted less than 15 minutes, limping off injured before the hour mark after being on the receiving end of a heavy challenge from Mitchell Weiser.
Just as in the first period, the opening 20 minutes of the second half passed by without a shot from the home side, who looked desperately short of ideas as they attempted to mount a comeback.
Spurred on by the news that Bayern were trailing to Bochum, Leverkusen found an extra gear with Exequiel Palacios the catalyst. He drove from deep before unleashing a low drive that was tipped around the post by Zetterer, who was required again moments later to deny a curling effort from the Argentina international.
Unlike last season, however, Leverkusen were unable to produce late heroics, and their comeback efforts were ended in stoppage time when Justin Njinmah swept home from Keke Topp’s cutback, sealing just a second win in 11 attempts in 2025 for Bremen.
It’s also just a second victory in 16 head-to-heads against a Leverkusen side who remain eight points off the pace of leaders Bayern, who they face in midweek on the back of a first defeat in 12 Bundesliga home matches.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Felix Agu (Werder Bremen)
