By Rich & Otto

​SV Werder Bremen achieved an important 4:2 victory on Friday over visiting FC Schalke 04.  Schalke scored first when Breel Embolo capitalized on a flick-on from Weston McKennie in the 26th minute, but the lead was short-lived: just 5 minutes later, Milot Rashica scored off a cross from Max Kruse.  Bremen extended their lead in the 73rd minute with another goal from Rashica before Schalke’s Embolo scored another goal in the 85th minute.  Finally, Bremen’s Martin Harnik sealed the victory deep into extra time.  Bremen’s Rashica now has more goals since the beginning of the year than other player, except for Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski.  The victory moves Bremen 1 point ahead of Hertha Berlin going into Saturday’s matches, and 3 points behind 7th-place VfL Wolfsburg.  Hertha will travel to Freiburg on Saturday and may miss the services of Davie Selkie, who is nursing a muscular injury sustained in the match against Mainz.  Hertha have collected 11 points in their 7 matches during this Rückrunde, which is their best return in 10 years.  Although Freiburg have won just 1 of their 7 matches in the same period, several draws have helped them build an 8-point berth clear of the relegation zone, with 10 matches to go, the final 2 of which will be against Hannover and Nürnberg.  Also on Saturday, Borussia Dortmund will try to hold off visiting Stuttgart and prevent Bayern from taking the top spot in the table.  Over at Bayern, Robert Lewandowski has pulled even on goals this season with Frankfurt’s Luka Jovic, and is also tied with Claudio Pizarro as the Bundesliga’s leading foreign scorer, with 195 goals.  Coincidentally, Lewandowski has scored more goals against Wolfsburg than against any other club.  Wolfsburg, for their part, are unbeaten in their last 5 outings, including taking 7 points in their last 3 away matches, and remain in contention for a spot in European competition.  Looking ahead to Sunday, neither Hannover nor Nürnberg can hope to escape the relegation zone in their respective matches against Leverkusen and Hoffenheim.  Nürnberg are without a win in 18 matches, and lost the Hinrunde match against Hoffenheim 1:3.  Hannover lost to Stuttgart 1:5 last Sunday and have been affected by an unfortunate series of injuries.  Leverkusen have managed to climb to 6th place in the league and are just 4 points out of qualification for the UEFA Champions League.  On Monday, Fortuna Düsseldorf will look to extend their winning streak:  they have collected 22 points in 10 matches.

By Rich

Jens Grahl is a 30-year-old goalkeeper for VfB Stuttgart.  Grahl was born on September 22nd, 1988 in Stuttgart, West Germany and spent his youth career playing for TSV Münster, SpVgg Feuerbach, VfB Stuttgart, Stuttgarter Kickers, and SpVgg Greuther Fürth.  His senior career continued with Greuther Fürth from 2006 to 2009, where he made 72 appearances for Fürth’s reserve squad.  He transferred to TSG Hoffenheim in 2009, where he made 89 appearances for Hoffenheim’s reserve and senior squads before being loaned to SC Paderborn for the 2011-12 season.  He joined his current club in 2016, and last year extended his contract until June 2020.