Eagles loanee Rafael Borré extended the home side’s lead early in the second period. Skhiri’s thunderous effort reduced the arrears midway through the half, and Smolcic headed past Michael Zetterer ten minutes later to restore parity. The visitors had opportunities to complete the turnaround late on but Bremen survived a late Eagles onslaught to claim a point.
Tuta returns to back three
Eintracht boss Dino Toppmöller made three changes to the team that beat HJK Helsinki in the Europa Conference League on Thursday. Philipp Max and Ansgar Knauff returned to the side, while fit-again Tuta was named in a back three alongside Smolcic and Willian Pacho. Niels Nkounkou, Mario Götze and Éric Junior Dina Ebimbe were named on the bench, but Robin Koch remained sidelined with a calf injury.
Ducksch the difference
Clear-cut opportunities were few and far between in a cagey first half at the Weserstadion. Omar Marmoush, who came into the contest with five goals in his past three Bundesliga appearances, had a shot deflected wide before Leonardo Bittencourt sent a fierce long-range drive narrowly off target.
The game sparked into life in the closing stages of the half. Moments after Bremen goalkeeper Zetterer had parried a Farès Chaibi effort to safety, the home side were awarded a penalty for a foul by Knauff on Romano Schmid. Ducksch, who received his first Germany call-up earlier this week, steered his effort past Kevin Trapp to give Werder a narrow lead at the interval.
Eagles come roaring back
Toppmöller made a double change at the interval, bringing on Götze and Dina Ebimbe for Chaibi and Aurélio Buta. The move failed to have the desired effect, however, as Borré nodded home a Bittencourt cross via the inside of the post to double the hosts’ advantage. The Colombian’s effort was checked by the video assistant referee for a possible offside against Ducksch, but the goal was given.
Knauff missed a golden opportunity to pull a goal back when he blazed over the crossbar from close range, but Eintracht did reduce the arrears when Skhiri’s low drive beat Zetterer at his near pot. The Eagles were level ten minutes later, Smolcic nodding Tuta’s flick-on into the net to spark jubilant scenes among the travelling fans. Skhiri had a goal-bound header saved by Zetterer and Marmoush went close to continuing his purple patch late on, but Toppmöller and his players will be satisfied with the point.
