Christoph Kramer (L) of Monchengladbach vies with Marco Friedl of Bremen during their German Bundesliga match in Monchengladbach, Germany, Nov. 10, 2019. (Photo by Ulrich Hufnagel/Xinhua)
BERLIN, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Borussia Monchengladbach opened up a four-point lead atop the standings as Patrick Herrmann provided a brace to ease 3-1 past wasteful Werder Bremen at the 11th round in Bundesliga on Sunday.
The "Foals" smoothed the way for the win with two quick first-half goals while Bremen squandered too many chances, including a penalty, to suffer their fourth defeat of the season.
Both sides started highly motivated into the encounter and exchanged attacks as Monchengladbach's Marcus Thuram and Bremen's Milot Rashica had opportunities at each end of the pitch in the opening period.
Nevertheless, it was the hosts who opened the scoring with 20 minutes played when Laszlo Benes' free-kick into the area found Ramy Bensebaini, whose header found the back of the net.
Monchengladbach went one better only two minutes later as Herrmann tapped home Thuram's assist into the open goal.
Bremen responded well and thought they had halved the deficit but Yuya Osako's goal was denied by the referee due to foul play in the 27th minute.
The "Green-Whites" remained dangerous through Rashica, who missed the target just wide from a promising position.
Marco Rose's men focussed on counter-attacks and they almost tripled the lead but the corner of the goalpost denied Bensebaini.
Bremen should have pulled one back before the break but Monchengladbach custodian Yann Sommer was on guard twice. First Sommer denied relentless Rashica, then he defused a close-range diving header from Maximilian Eggestein.
After the restart, Rashica remained a key factor in Bremen's game as he tested Sommer once again with three minutes into the second half.
Bremen even had the golden opportunity to reduce the arrears moments later as the video assistant referee awarded the visitors a foul play penalty. However, Davy Klaassen couldn't beat Sommer from the spot.
The hosts punished Bremen for their wastefulness at the hour mark when Herrmann wrapped up his brace with a well placed low shot from the edge into the far post corner.
Monchengladbach had to complete the game with 10 men as Bensebaini received his marching orders after booking his second yellow card.
Florian Kohfeldt's men benefitted on their numerical advantage and scored their consolation through Eggestein in the dying minutes of the game.
With the second straight win, Monchengladbach established a four-point advantage atop the standings meanwhile Bremen slipped to the 14th place of the Bundesliga table.
