Bundesliga Watch: Werder Bremen did something that no team in the top 5 leagues has done in the last 13 years

Comebacks are proof that nothing is certain in the world of football. Whether it was Bayern Munich’s comeback against FC Porto in the 2014/15 Champions League quarter-finals, or Real Madrid’s remontadas against ... a lot of teams, comebacks not only make or break hopes, but also make for thrillers. Yesterday, one such comeback shocked the entirety of the Bundesliga.

Werder Bremen began their Bundesliga campaign, their 58th season in the league after their brief time away from the first division, with a 2-2 draw against VfL Wolfsburg and followed that up with another 2-2 draw against VfB Stuttgart.

Matchday three. Borussia Dortmund vs SV Werder Bremen. Julian Brandt scored the first goal of the game for Dortmund in additional time during the first half and Raphaël Guerreiro followed that up with a goal in the 77th minute, putting the hosts 2-0 up. Die Schwarzgelben were en route to winning the game 2-0 ... until the mania began. Substitutes Lee Buchanan, Niklas Schmidt and Oliver Burke fired into the net in the 89th, 93rd and 95th minutes respectively. Bremen came out of the game with a 3-2 victory, when they’d been losing until the 88th minute.

Per a report by kicker, no team in the history of the Bundesliga had ever managed three goals from the 89th minute. The previous record holders were TSG Hoffenheim on Matchday 6 in the 2009/10 season in a 4-2 win in Borussia Mönchengladbach and on Matchday 28 in 1963/64, Hamburg SV in a 7-3 win against FC Kaiserslautern: these teams scored thrice from the 86th minute.

In the top five leagues (Germany, Spain, Italy, France, and England), Bremen are the first team to be two or more goals behind in the 89th minute and still win, in the last 13 seasons. In the other 8,529 cases, there were 8,511 defeats and 18 draws. Madness!

“I’ve never experienced anything like it. It was a very unusual game and the better team definitely won,” said coach Ole Werner, pleased with Bremen’s first Bundesliga win.