Werder Bremen edge out Union Berlin 1-0 under the Weserstadion lights

Werder Bremen picked up their 3rd win of the season on Friday night, as they defeated Union Berlin 1-0 at the Weserstadion.

A tight and tense affair throughout, a superb strike from Marco Grüll proved to be the difference when all was said and done.

The first shot of the game was from Berlin. Andrej Ilic found space on the top of the box, and he ripped a low shot, but it flew wide of the goal.

Victor Boniface then had two close calls for the home side. First, he was nearly slipped through on goal, but a great lunging challenge stopped him. Then a bouncing ball fell to him, and the forward volleyed it from distance, narrowly going wide of the post.

Remarkably enough that was almost it for the first half. Both teams had nice spells of plays, and opportunities opened up, yet no one could create that final pass to lead to a chance. Ilyas Ansah turned and broke free late on, but couldn't get a shot on frame.

The closest anyone came to scoring in the first half was at the very end of the half. One final corner from Union found the head of Danilho Doekhi, but his header bounced inches past the far post.

It only took a few minutes for an opening after the break, as a botched clearance fell right to Jens Stage. He failed to capitalize, though, blasting a volley way over.

The breakthrough finally came in the 75th minute, and it was via a moment of magic from Marco Grüll. Sprinting past the backline, he cut inside before curling an absolute beauty off the underside of the ball and into the back of the net.

Union had plenty of time to respond, but they failed to put anything of substance together. They aimlessly lumped the ball forward, and every cross was easily cleared away.

The three points puts Bremen in 7th going into the weekend, and they travel to Mainz next time out.

Berlin drops to 10th, and they’ll host Freiburg next week.