Köln Punish Ten-Man Bremen in Crucial 3–1 Bundesliga Win

1. FC Köln boosted their Bundesliga hopes with a 3–1 home victory over SV Werder Bremen on Matchday 29, capitalising on an early lead and a first-half red card for the visitors.

The hosts struck first after just seven minutes. Said El Mala converted from the penalty spot to make it 1–0 to Köln, setting the tone for a tense afternoon for Bremen.

Werder’s task became significantly harder in the 24th minute when captain Marco Friedl was sent off, leaving the away side down to ten men. Köln kept control heading into the break, though detailed information on first-half chances beyond the goals and cards is not available.

After the restart, both teams turned to their benches. Bremen introduced Karim Coulibaly and Salim Musah at half-time, while Köln brought on Alessio Castro-Montes. The hosts doubled their advantage in the 65th minute when Ragnar Ache found the net for 2–0.

Bremen briefly forced their way back into the contest. In the 76th minute, Romano Schmid converted a penalty to reduce the deficit to 2–1. The match grew increasingly physical, with yellow cards shown to Ache, Leonardo Bittencourt, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, Amos Pieper and Eric Martel in the closing stages.

As Werder pushed for an equaliser deep into stoppage time, Köln struck the decisive blow. In the 90th minute plus seven, Ísak Jóhannesson finished a move set up by substitute Gian-Luca Waldschmidt to seal a 3–1 win.

Lineups, shot statistics and further match events beyond the listed goals, bookings and substitutions were not provided in the available data.

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Bundesliga Standings

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	PTS	Form
1	FC Bayern München	32	26	5	1	116	35	81	83	D W W W W
2	Borussia Dortmund	32	20	7	5	65	32	33	67	L W L L W
3	RB Leipzig	32	19	5	8	63	42	21	62	L W W W W
4	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	32	17	7	8	66	43	23	58	W W L W W
5	VfB Stuttgart	32	17	7	8	66	46	20	58	D D L W L
6	TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	32	17	7	8	64	48	16	58	D W W D L
7	SC Freiburg	32	12	8	12	45	53	-8	44	D L W W L
8	Eintracht Frankfurt	32	11	10	11	57	60	-3	43	L D L W D
9	FC Augsburg	32	11	7	14	42	56	-14	40	W D W D D
10	1. FSV Mainz 05	32	9	10	13	41	50	-9	37	W L D L W
11	Borussia Mönchengladbach	32	8	11	13	37	50	-13	35	W D D L D
12	Hamburger SV	32	8	10	14	36	51	-15	34	W L L L D
13	1. FC Union Berlin	32	8	9	15	37	57	-20	33	D L L L D
14	1. FC Köln	32	7	11	14	47	55	-8	32	D L D W D
15	SV Werder Bremen	32	8	8	16	37	57	-20	32	L D W L L
16	VfL Wolfsburg	32	6	8	18	42	67	-25	26	D D W L L
17	FC St. Pauli 1910	32	6	8	18	27	55	-28	26	L L D L D
18	1. FC Heidenheim 1846	32	5	8	19	38	69	-31	23	D W L W D