West Ham loanee Füllkrug likens Bremen’s dramatic draw in Dortmund to Champions League night

Niclas Füllkrug scored in four successive Bundesliga games for the first time in his career as his latest goal helped Werder Bremen to a dramatic draw in Dortmund. The former BVB striker compared the game to a Champions League experience after the final whistle.

“It was a good night for us,” Füllkrug started his explanation as he had no problem celebrating his goal against the club he helped to a Champions League final. “It felt a little bit like a Champions League night, like the ones I experienced with BVB in the past. We showed so much commitment in our performance tonight.

“When you give everything defensively, it can be difficult to create opportunities to hit the opposition on the counter. After conceding twice, we had to open up a bit and push further forward. That gave us a new lease of life, which was incredible. Full credit to the team for that performance.”

Since his return to Bundesliga, the West Ham loanee has only failed to score in his second Bremen debut against Freiburg. In contrast, the 24-time German international has only found the net three times during his spell in England before another poor spell at AC Milan.

“Getting the goal myself is just one of those things that can happen in football,” Füllkrug added in his post-match interview (via Bremen’s official website). “The fact that I scored against BVB doesn’t matter to me. What matters is that we came away with a point. The goal itself came from a set-piece routine we’d practised.”

Füllkrug and Bremen will next face newly-promoted Paderborn on matchday 6. The 2022/23 Bundesliga joint-top scorer will return to Dortmund at the end of the month as the two clubs meet in the DFB-Pokal, where he scored the first goal of his second Bremen stint against LSK Hansa.