Michel's late strike sees Paderborn past Bremen

Werder Bremen 0-1 Paderborn
Goals: 0-1 Michel (90')

The game kicked off at a furious pace, with Paderborn looking lively in the opening exchanges. Christopher Antwi-Adjei tested Jiri Pavlenka early on, before five-goal top scorer Streli Mamba dragged one wide. Bremen responded as Leonardo Bittencourt and Davy Klaassen forced a sensational double save from Leopold Zingerle. Some fancy footwork from Yuya Osako then set Maximilian Eggestein free, but after cutting inside nicely he fired off target. Pavlenka produced two excellent stops of his own on the half-hour, tipping Sebastian Vasiliadis' ferocious long-range effort over the bar and gathering from the resulting corner. Paderborn's Jamilu Collins saw an attempt deflected over and Eggestein screwed another one off target as the action continued to swing from end to end, and though Bremen ended the half on top, neither side could find a way through before the break.

After the fireworks of the first half, the second was much more of a slow burner, with the first chance of note only arriving in the 58th minute as Paderborn captain Klaus Gjasula headed a Kai Pröger corner over the bar. Milot Rashica looked the most likely man to make something happen for the hosts, volleying just wide shortly afterwards, before Eggestein warmed Zingerle's gloves with a thunderous effort from the edge of the area. Mamba appeared to have squandered a great opportunity midway through the half, but the flag went up for offside just after he had clipped wide from close range. Bremen appeared closer to a winner in the latter stages, with Rashica blasting over and Bittencourt rifling into the side netting, but substitute Michel was the unlikely hero, sweeping in from Mamba's pass for all three points. It was originally ruled out for offside, but VAR confirmed that wasn't the case as Paderborn claimed three vital points and moved above Cologne at the foot of the standings.

• Michel scored his second goal of the campaign. He was also on target on the opening day of the season, grabbing an early equaliser in the 3-2 loss to Bayer Leverkusen.
• Mamba has scored five goals this season. Just one more and he will join Paderborn's record Bundesliga goalscorer Elias Kachunga on six.
• Bremen have failed to claim back-to-back wins in the Bundesliga since September (against Augsburg and Union Berlin). The Green-Whites had ended an eight-game winless streak on Matchday 13 with a 3-2 success in Wolfsburg.
• Bremen and Paderborn had previously scored six goals apiece in the opening 15 minutes of matches this season.
• Benjamin Goller and Claudio Pizarro were both on the pitch for Bremen in the second half. In 1999, the former was born and the latter made his Bundesliga debut.
• This season, promoted Paderborn have scored more goals against Germany's UEFA Champions League participants Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen (9) than they have in their other 10 games (8).

Watch: Mamba: "We never give up"

Bremen: Pavlenka – Gebre Selassie, Veljkovic, Moisander (c), Augustinsson – M. Eggestein, Bargfrede (Goller 67'), Klaassen – Bittencourt (J. Eggestein, 87'), Osako (Pizarro 58'), Rashica
Subs: Kapino, Lang, Langkamp, Sahin, Friedl, Groß
Out: Füllkrug (torn ACL), Möhwald (knee), Sargent (torn hamstring), Toprak (calf), Bartels (match fitness)
Coach: Florian Kohfeldt

Paderborn: Zingerle – Jans, Kilian, Schonlau, Collins – Pröger, Vasiliadis, Gjasula (c) (Michel 84'), Antwi-Adjei (Holtmann 68') – Mamba, Zolinski (Cauly 58')
Subs: Huth, Hünemeier, Strohdiek, Sabiri, Kapic, Dräger
Out: -
Coach: Steffen Baumgart