20/12 7:30 PM
21/12 2:30 PM
21/12 2:30 PM
21/12 2:30 PM
21/12 2:30 PM
21/12 2:30 PM
21/12 5:30 PM
22/12 2:30 PM
22/12 4:30 PM
Max Kruse and Milot Rashica (l-c) are firing Werder Bremen goals every weekend in the Bundesliga.
Max Kruse and Milot Rashica (l-c) are firing Werder Bremen goals every weekend in the Bundesliga. - © imago images / Christoph Worsch
Max Kruse and Milot Rashica (l-c) are firing Werder Bremen goals every weekend in the Bundesliga. - © imago images / Christoph Worsch
bundesliga

Werder Bremen rubbing shoulders with PSG in goalscoring stakes

xwhatsappmailcopy-link

When you have Claudio Pizarro, the oldest goalscorer in Bundesliga history proving he can still do the business at the age of 40 – and then some – the fact that Werder Bremen simply cannot stop scoring may not be all that surprising.

Advertisement

Looking at the company they are rubbing shoulders with, though, it is hard not to be impressed by Bremen's current 27-game streak in which they have always scored at least one goal - a run that dates back to the final game of last season.

The latest offering of their attacking might arrived on Matchday 26 in a hugely impressive 3-1 victory away to Bayer Leverkusen, in which the in-form Max Kruse hit a brace and Milot Rashica notched his sixth goal in his last eight appearances.

Alongside Bremen and Paris Saint-Germain, serial Italian champions Juventus - with Cristiano Ronaldo, former Bayern Munich frontman Mario Mandzukic and Paulo Dybala-  were the only other side to have scored in every league outing in 2018/19, but a 2-0 defeat to Genoa on 17 March brought their run to an end.

Max Kruse's Bremen have come from behind to draw their last three Bundesliga games in a row. - imago images / Jan Huebner

Bremen's run shows no sign of slowing, though. No matter how strong your defence, there is apparently no way of stopping Pizarro and Co. from breaching it this term. Florian Kohfeldt has formed a highly efficient troupe, too, considering that their overall haul of 46 goals is not among the highest in the Bundesliga, and one of their leading scorers is midfielder Maximilian Eggestein on five.

Bremen have succeeded in sharing goalscoring duties thanks in large part to the balance in the side. Not only within the team, where they have players in a variety of positions able to pose a threat in the final third, but overall they have a blend of experienced campaigners, such as Pizarro, Kruse and Martin Harnik, and emerging talent like Johannes Eggestein, Josh Sargent and Rashica.

Watch: Pizarro becomes the Bundesliga's oldest goalscorer

Johannes Eggestein – Maximilian's younger brother – has already scored two goals in seven games since the turn of the year, Sargent has struck twice in just 205 minutes on the field, and it was he who earned the last-gasp free-kick which Pizarro tucked away to preserve Bremen's proud record on Matchday 22, and become the oldest Bundesliga goalscorer of all time. Meanwhile, Rashica has fought his way into the first team and, with six goals, is Bremen's top scorer in 2019.

Pizarro's strike with the last kick of the game against Hertha Berlin, Davy Klassen's Matchday 23 leveller at home to VfB Stuttgart and Kruse's recent purple patch confirm only one thing: write off Bremen at your peril.