Füllkrug and Bremen end Dortmund’s winning streak

Werder Bremen came from 2-0 behind to end Borussia Dortmund’s winning start to the Bundesliga season. The former Germany international Niclas Füllkrug stunned his ex-club with an injury-time equalizer.

As expected, Borussia Dortmund dominated the early proceedings, but the visitors defended their box admirably. And they also created the first big moment of the game with the dangerous header from ex-BVB striker Füllkrug, who was in a slightly offside position.

A minute later, Amos Pieper, who also had a stint at the North Rhine-Westphalia club, had to be substituted off due to an injury. Summer signing Oskar Wójcik replaced the center-back for his only second Bundesliga appearance.

Despite Dortmund’s sustained pressure, Estonian goalkeeper Karl Hein had a quiet first-half until the closing stages. The Arsenal loanee even created an attacking opportunity at the other end with a brilliant long throw, but French U21 international Joane Gadou made a superb last-minute intervention.

The visitors continued their momentum as Ludovit Reis failed to hit the target from a promising position ten minutes before the break. For all their dominance, Dortmund’s first real chance came from Marcel Sabitzer’s long-range free-kick, which narrowly missed the desired target.

Hein then made his first meaningful save from Sabitzer’s effort from open play. Dortmund started finding spaces to operate before the half-time whistle as Hein had to pull a spectacular save to deny Maximilian Beier, who didn’t make the cut in Jürgen Klopp’s extended Germany squad.

The 24-year-old shot-stopper made his first second-half save within two minutes as Nico Schlotterbeck tried his luck from range. A minute later, he had to be alert to stop a volleyed effort from his former Arsenal teammate Ethan Nwaneri as Dortmund started the half positively.

Nwaneri, who was anonymous before the break, had another great chance inside the first ten minutes. However, Hein still managed to create another great chance with a long ball as Gregor Kobel denied his former teammate Füllkrug, who scored in each of his last three Bundesliga games.

The battle of Arsenal loanees continued with Hein’s next big save coming from Nwaneri’s effort. The England U21 international then scored with a sensational overhead kick, but the referee Christian Dingert had already stopped play for a previous foul.

The lively Nwaneri was immediately substituted by Fabio Silva as Bremen managed the next twenty minutes much better than how they started the half. Summer signings Konstantinos Karetsas and Joey Veerman also entered the pitch for the last 20 minutes.

The breakthrough did come from an improbable source, though. Beier won possession deep in Dortmund half from Mitchell Weiser’s misplaced pass before initiating a quick counterattack. Fabio Silva was unable to guide his effort on goal after a link-up play with Serhou Guirassy, but Daniel Svensson was in the right place to score on his 50th appearance.

Dortmund further cemented the lead with their first set-piece goal of the season. The captain Nico Schlotterbeck headed home from Veerman’s corner-kick delivery, which was also very useful for Xavi’s Netherlands side during the international break.

Bremen felt hard done by the decision to allow the goal despite Felix Nmecha’s intervention on Hein from an offside position. Moments later, Schlotterbeck’s mistake led to Reis’ stunning strike as the visitors halved the deficit.

Dortmund famously squandered a two-goal lead in injury-time to lose 3-2 in 2022, and there was another drama on this one. Füllkrug extended his scoring run to four games with a free header from Marco Grüll’s free-kick delivery to stun his former club.

The two teams will meet again at the end of the month in the second round of the DFB-Pokal. Dortmund will face a tricky trip to Bodø/Glimt on Wednesday before facing Union Berlin on matchday six. Bremen will host newly-promoted Paderborn in their next game.