Borussia Mönchengladbach and Werder Bremen will both leave the Weserstadion on Tuesday feeling as if they could have walked away with three points, but the reality is that both could have easily also walked away with none, so the one point each picked up in the 2-2 draw was probably fair.
Bremen were first off the mark, getting a 17th-minute goal from Markus Rosenberg that gave them a lead they would hold through halftime. The match was not calm before the break, though, with both teams getting chances and, most importantly, Bremen going down to 10 men after Sebastian Boenisch was sent off for a poor tackle.
Up a man, Gladbach came firing out in the second half and it paid off in the 52nd minute, when Mike Hanke hit a gorgeous left-footed shot from 20 yards that hit the inside of the post before settling in the back of the net. He doubled Gladbach's lead 14 minutes later and it looked like short-handed Bremen would fall off.
Unable to throw numbers forward from the run of play because they were down a man, Bremen took advantage of their set-piece opportunities, specifically one in the 74th minute. Zlatko Junuzović swung a beautiful free kick in toward the near post where Naldo climbed above the Gladbach defenders and headed home the equalizer to snatch a point for the home side.
For Gladbach, it will feel like an opportunity missed as they failed to gain ground on Schalke for third place and the all-important automatic Champions League place, but Bremen will feel the same, failing to put some space between them and their chasers for one of the Europa League places. In the end, though, both got a fair point.
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