Franco di Santo’s late penalty earned Werder Bremen a 1-0 win over Hamburg SV in the northern derby on Sunday to leave the visitors last in the Bundesliga.
Di Santo sent Rene Adler the wrong way in the 84th minute after Valon Behrami was sent off for pulling back Zlatko Junuzovic.
It was a hard-fought game with few real chances and many fouls. Bremen defender Jannik Vestergaard went off early after a bad challenge from Rafael van der Vaart.
Hamburg’s best chance fell to Zoltan Stieber, but he shot just wide in the 28th minute.
Bremen rallied late. Former Hamburg youth Leven Oztunali drew a fine save from Adler, before Di Santo spoiled Bruno Labaddia’s second debut as Hamburg coach.
Labbadia was reappointed on Wednesday last week in a bid to stave off relegation, becoming the club’s fourth coach of the season. Hamburg are the only founding members of the Bundesliga never to have been relegated, but they are four points from safety after their fifth consecutive loss.
Hamburg have not scored in a club record six games.
Kevin de Bruyne equalized for VfL Wolfsburg to draw 1-1 at home with Schalke 04 in the late game.
The home side dominated, especially in the second half, only for Schalke’s Leroy Sane to score on a counterattack after a corner in the 53rd minute.
The corner was headed clear and the 19-year-old ran from his own half at isolated defender Christian Traesch and got a lucky bounce from Maximilian Arnold’s despairing challenge, before tucking the ball inside the post.
“We had seven players from the youth setup in the starting lineup. That’s a great thing for the club,” Schalke coach Roberto di Matteo said.
Ricardo Rodriguez struck the crossbar for Wolfsburg early in the second half and Ralf Faehrmann made a host of saves to keep the hosts at bay, but De Bruyne earned his side a point with a well-struck long-range effort into the bottom corner in the 78th minute.
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