Leweling inspires Stuttgart to comfortable win at Bremen

Werder Bremen suffered back-to-back defeats as Stuttgart comfortably beat them in the last game of 2025 at Weserstadion. Jamie Leweling was the star performer with a stunning goal and two assists.

Horst Steffen finally decided to give chances to Justin Njinmah and Samuel Mbangula after the Norderby defeat. Stuttgart also suffered a disappointing defeat on matchday 13, but they beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-1 in the Europa League on Thursday.

Njinmah only started once from the previous seven matchdays, but the striker justified the decision to bring him back into the lineup with three promising chances for Bremen inside the first ten minutes. However, Alexander Nübel was equally impressive in Stuttgart’s goal.

Bremen and Njinmah couldn’t keep up their explosive start, however. The hosts were fortunate not to go behind in the 23rd minute when Deniz Undav scored from a marginally offside position.

Stuttgart continued to push for the opening goal as Mio Backhaus made a good save from Atakan Karazor. However, the young goalkeeper was forced to pick the ball out of the net twice before the half-time break.

First, two players who didn’t start the Europa League game combined well to put the visitors ahead. In his last game before heading to the African Cup of Nations, Bilal El Khannouss scored his third Bundesliga goal with a great header from  Jamie Leweling’s cross from the left side.

Barely four minutes later, Leweling doubled Stuttgart’s lead with one of the best goals of the Hinrunde. The German international ended a 20-game Bundesliga scoreless run with an unstoppable effort from range, although Backhaus’ positioning could have been better.

The game ended as a contest when Karim Coulibaly was sent off after his second booking at the hour mark. A couple of minutes earlier, the hosts also lost their captain Marco Friedl through injury. Backhaus prevented further goals from Leweling and El Khannouss in a cagey second-half.

Backhaus also made a decent stop from Undav, but that was after the in-form striker extended Stuttgart’s lead. Undav scored his tenth goal of the season in all competitions after another assist from Leweling, who was directly involved in three goals for the first time in a Bundesliga encounter. 

Nübel sealed his deserved clean sheet with an injury-time save to deny Romano Schmidt. Backhaus then denied Chris Führich before the substitute scored Stuttgart's fourth with an emphatic finish.

Stuttgart climbed to sixth place thanks to the three points. Steffen’s side is only five points ahead of the relegation/promotion playoff spot. Bremen will see out 2025 away at Augsburg, while Stuttgart end another largely successful year at home against Hoffenheim with only a point separating the two sides.