Werder Bremen stun RB Leipzig 3-1 as Fullkrug scores on his return

Werder Bremen made a statement at the Weserstadion, beating RB Leipzig 3-1 to hand the visitors their first defeat of the season. New signing Eren Dinkci set the tone with the fastest goal of Bundesliga matchday 2, and Niclas Fullkrug marked his return to the club with a goal of his own.

Dinkci struck in just the 4th minute, finishing off a Chuki assist to give the hosts an early lead they never gave up. Leipzig, missing Castello Lukeba, Rocco Reitz and Brajan Gruda, had summer signing Christopher Nkunku making just his second full appearance, but could not find a way back into the game before half-time.

Fullkrug's homecoming goal

Fullkrug, back at Werder Bremen after his spell away, made it 2-0 on 68 minutes, assisted by Marco Grull. Twelve minutes later Grull turned scorer himself, converting an unlikely chance — rated just a 3% probability by the numbers — to put Bremen 3-0 up and out of sight. Ridle Baku pulled one back for Leipzig deep into stoppage time, assisted by Andrija Maksimovic, but it did nothing to change the outcome.

Leipzig actually shaded the underlying numbers, with an expected-goals reading of 1.65 to Bremen's 1.02 — a reminder that Thioune's side made the most of the game's smaller number of clear chances.

Match facts

• 4' — Eren Dinkci (Werder Bremen), assisted by Chuki
• 68' — Niclas Fullkrug (Werder Bremen), assisted by Marco Grull
• 80' — Marco Grull (Werder Bremen)
• 90+5' — Ridle Baku (RB Leipzig), assisted by Andrija Maksimovic

Possession, shot counts and cards were not published for this fixture by our reference sources, so they are left out rather than estimated.

"Incredible."

— Daniel Thioune, Werder Bremen head coach, on the win over Leipzig

How each side's form developed from there

Bremen did not fold the win into a slump the way some sides do after an emotional home result. They drew 1-1 away at Cologne on matchday 3, then beat Augsburg 3-2 at the Weserstadion on matchday 4 — an unbeaten stretch that turned the Leipzig scalp into the start of a run rather than an isolated high point. Across their opening four games, Thioune's side have taken 7 points from a win, a draw and two defeats, with 8 goals scored and 8 conceded.

Leipzig's response was more uneven. Four days after losing at the Weserstadion, they were beaten 1-4 away by Como in the Champions League — a heavy midweek reverse sandwiched between domestic matches. Leipzig steadied themselves with a 5-0 thrashing of Hamburger SV at home on matchday 3, only to lose again, 2-0 away at Bayer Leverkusen, on matchday 4. Two defeats in their last three outings, either side of that one big win, is the shape of a side still searching for consistency after the Weserstadion result.

Where the table stood after matchday 4

By the time both clubs had played four Bundesliga games, the gap the Weserstadion result opened between them was still visible in the table. Werder Bremen sat 8th with 7 points from two wins, a draw and a loss, a goal difference of exactly zero at 8 for and 8 against. RB Leipzig were one place and one point below, 9th on 6 points from two wins and two losses, though their goal difference of +4 (9 scored, 5 conceded) was healthier than Bremen's — a sign that Leipzig's defeats have come by narrow margins rather than the kind of scoreline suffered at the Weserstadion.

It remains the only meeting between the two clubs on Guriball's own record this season, so there is no wider head-to-head pattern to draw on yet — only the fact that Bremen, on the balance of matchday 2, are the side who have the better of the pair so far.