Bundesliga 2022/23: Werder Bremen’s unbelievably late comeback against Borussia Dortmund – tactical analysis

Bundesliga 2 promotion winners, Werder Bremen, arrived at Borussia Park on Saturday having not won a Bundesliga match for 528 days. Before the 107th meeting between the two teams, Borussia Dortmund were one of two teams in the league to have won both of their opening two matches. Werder Bremen were massive underdogs having only managed two draws so far with both their matches ending 2-2.

Bremen found themselves 2-0 down by the 77th minute, continuing their streak of conceding two goals in each match. After having looked comfortable for the majority of the match Dortmund conceded the three goals in a dramatic and unbelievably late comeback for Bremen with the goals hitting the net in the 89th, 90+3rd and the 90+5th minute.

This tactical analysis will uncover the statistics behind Werder Bremen’s incredible comeback, alongside an analysis of the effect Borussia Dortmund’s tactical changes had on the outcome of the match.

Lineups

Dortmund had three changes, all of which had an impact on their win against Freiburg off the bench. Bynoe-Gittens had his first Bundesliga start, after coming off the bench to score in Dortmund’s comeback versus Freiburg, and was chosen over Donyell Malen on the left wing. The next change was the Belgian right-back Meunier, who was replaced by Marius Wolf who had also come off the bench to score the last goal in the 1-3 win. The third change in the starting 11 was Julian Brand, who assisted the second goal, swapped for Thorgan Hazard on the right wing.

During the match, Edin Terzić made five substitutions, two of which were due to injuries as Mats Hummels was removed for Niklas Süle in the 62nd minute, and Mahmoud Dahoud only lasted 18 minutes before Emre Can took his place. The rest of the changes were attacking substitutions, all of which occurred before Bremen’s first goal.