Werder Bremen celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Weserstadion with a 4-3 win over Real Madrid legends on Saturday. A sold-out crowd filled the ground for the occasion, and the friendly had enough swings in it to feel like a proper night rather than a token anniversary runout.
The centenary setting
The event mattered as much as the scoreline. Werder Bremen used the anniversary to put the stadium itself at the centre of the evening, with a packed house inside the Weserstadion for the celebration.
Thomas Schaaf, who returned to the occasion as a former coach, said to bundesliga.com: "There are so many incredible years and memories to look back on, from being a young boy watching from the stands to the huge games we were fortunate enough to experience," He added: "The Champions League was obviously one of the highlights. I still get goosebumps when I think about my first game as head coach. You could immediately feel the excitement inside the stadium. It’s difficult to single out just one moment because each one has its own special significance."
The goals that made it a proper friendly
The football matched the mood. Rubén de la Red Gutiérrez put the visitors ahead in the 6th minute, Markus Rosenberg equalised in the 45th minute, and the game kept moving until Diego produced the moment most people will remember, a 72nd-minute curler from the edge of the box into the top corner.
Sokratis was among the other names involved in turning the night into a seven-goal game, and that is the right way to read it. This was not just nostalgia packaged for the crowd, it was a lively contest that kept finding another turn. Naldo and Pepe were also part of the legends cast, which only added to the sense of old names drifting back into the same old stadium.
Werder leave the night with a clean anniversary story and a 4-3 result that matched the occasion. The centenary is done, the memory is made, and the final score line from Saturday is the one that will sit beside it.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
