Werder come from behind to win second friendly of pre-season | OneFootball

The equaliser came from a nice move involving several players (Photo: WERDER.DE).

Match report following friendly away to Kickers Emden

SV Werder Bremen won their second friendly of pre-season as they prepare for the 2025/26 campaign. The Green-Whites defeated Regionalliga side Kickers Emden 3-1 in front of 7,200 spectators at a sold-out Ostfriesland-Stadion.

Emden strike on the counter but Malatini levels

Topp’s spectacular effort missed by a hair’s breadth (Photo: WERDER.DE).

First half highlights:

14th minute: The first big chance of the game. Topp gets on the end of a deep cross from Wöber and takes it first time, but his shot from a tight angle is narrowly wide.

25th minute: Steffen plays a perfect pass to the advancing Eickhoff. The former Werder man keeps his cool under pressure from Covic and beats Zetterer from close range.

33rd minute: Werder find the equaliser! Covic plays an excellent through ball to Wöber, who immediately fires a cross into the middle. Topp can’t quite convert under pressure from a defender, but Malatini is there to tap home at the far post.

37th minute: Werder work their way into a shooting position through some nice one- and two-touch football. Topp lays it off for Schmid, whose left-footed shot goes just wide from around 18 yards out.

Grüll scores from Pieper’s clever ball over the top

Grüll thanked Pieper for the assist (Photo: WERDER.DE).

Second half highlights:

56th minute: Grüll gets in behind the defence, which Pieper sees, and plays a ball over the top to him from the centre of the pitch. The Austrian takes it down and finishes with aplomb.

74th minute: Bittencourt finds Grüll, who shoots. Substitute goalkeeper Djokovic makes the save.

75th minute: Werder do find the net from the resulting corner! Grüll’s ball-in comes all the way through to Adeh, who hammers in off the post. Djokovic is unable to keep it out.

90th minute +1: Full time. Werder defeat Regionalliga side Kickers Emden 3-1. On Tuesday, 22nd July, Steffen’s side will travel to Zillertal for their training camp.

Summary: Werder were totally dominant in the early stages, but also very high up the pitch. The Kickers took the lead when Eickhoff finished off a near-perfect counterattack. Malatini converted following a nice move from the Green-Whites to make it 1-1. After the break, the game followed the same pattern despite changes to the teams. Grüll (56’) and Adeh (75’) scored the second and third to hand SVW the victory.

Statistics

BSV Kickers Emden: Quindt (68’ Djokovic) - Igwe (46’ Janssen), Engel (63’ Schiller), Herbst (63’ Steffens), Andresen (63’ Steinwender) - Oduah (63’ Stepantsev). Kaissis (63’ Eickschläger), Gumpert (63’ Schmidt), Eickhoff (63’ Siederkiewicz) - Schröder (46.’ Stöhr), Steffen (63’ Eilerts)

SV Werder: Zetterer (46’ Kolke) - Malatini (46’ Agu), Stark (46’ Pieper), Friedl (46’ Schmetgens), Wöber (46’ Coulibaly) - Lynen (46’ Adeh), Alvero (46’ Bittencourt) - Covic (46’ Hansen-Aarøen), Schmid (46’ Kownacki (68’ Salifou)), Opitz (46’ Grüll) - Topp (46’ Musah)

Goals: 1-0 Eickhoff (25’), 1-1 Malatini (33’), 1-2 Grüll (56’), 1-3 Adeh (75’)

Referee: Jost Steenken

Attendance: 7,200 (sold-out)