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Werder Bremen ended what was probably the most nerve-wracking year in the club's history with a convincing victory in the DFB Cup.

With a 3-0 (2-0) success in the north duel at the second division club Hannover 96, the six-time cup winner moved into the round of 16 of his favorite competition.

Theodor Gebre Selassie (30th minute), Joshua Sargent (32nd) and Jean-Manuel Mbom (60th) rewarded a clear performance by the Bundesliga club with their goals.

At the back Werder hardly allowed anything and at the front they were much more dangerous than the ambitious but disappointing second division from Lower Saxony, as so often this season.

In the DFB-Pokal, Bremen are now one of the last 16, in the Bundesliga with a lead of eight points on a direct relegation place in the next year.

For the extremely turbulent 2020, in which the club almost relegated and was hit particularly hard by the loss of income from the Corona crisis, this is a conciliatory conclusion.

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Werder had to do without the two defenders Ömer Toprak (hit on the Achilles tendon) and Marco Friedl (thigh problems) for a short time in this game.

For them, captain Niklas Moisander and Milos Veljkovic were used.

Both were rarely challenged on the defensive and therefore let off steam further up front.

The veteran Moisander from Finland, who is rarely considered this season, prepared the second Bremen goal with his beautiful solo.

The same was true for right-back Gebre Selassie, who had the best chance of the game until then (27th).

Shortly after the break, Werder's loan player Tahith Chong missed a double chance to make it 3-0 (48th).

That kept the now somewhat brash hosts in the game for a few minutes.

Because shortly afterwards Timo Hübers missed the first good opportunity for Hanover after a corner kick (51.).

A little later everything was decided.

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Both teams don't have much time to relax.

They have to be back on the training ground on Monday.

The Christmas break in this Corona year is just "a long weekend," said Werder coach Florian Kohfeldt.

VfB Stuttgart - SC Freiburg 1: 0 (1: 0)

Striker Sasa Kalajdzic gave VfB Stuttgart a successful year-end and led his team to the round of 16 of the DFB Cup.

Thanks to a goal by the Austrian national player in the 15th minute, the Swabians won 1-0 (1-0) against their Baden rival SC Freiburg on Wednesday.

It is the culmination of a strong year at VfB.

As a newcomer, he is in a respectable seventh place in the table in the Bundesliga during the winter break - and he is now also in the cup in the round of the last 16 teams.

For the last form strong Freiburg, however, it is the third time in a row in the second round final stop.

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Just over three months ago, the sports club had stolen three points from Stuttgart at the start of the season and took a 3-0 lead after just 48 minutes.

The fact that VfB has developed considerably since then became clear in the last competitive game of the year.

This time the Swabians had the action much better under control and barely let the Freiburg offensive develop in the first half.

Even if top scorer Silas Wamangituka, who already scored eight goals in competitive matches, had to pass this time with knee problems, the attacking game from Stuttgart worked.

The opening goal was especially worth seeing.

Via Tanguy Coulibaly, Mateo Klimowicz and Gonzalo Castro, VfB combined through the Freiburg back line before Kalajdzic finally completed the attack with the goal.

The Austrian is currently in good shape, which was also noticed by Freiburg coach Christian Streich.

In the 2-2 draw against Union Berlin, Kalajdzic was recently "almost world class" with his two joker goals.

And also in the other scenes of this cup duel it was mostly dangerous when Kalajdzic was involved (19th and 22nd).

Streich didn't like the appearance of the Breisgauers at all, on the sidelines the coach showed significantly more commitment than his players.

The most striking scene in Freiburg was a tussle with Pascal Stenzel triggered by Vincenzo Grifo just before the break (45th).

In the second half, too, VfB tried to get rid of its home situation from the Bundesliga (four draws, two defeats).

Benjamin Uphoff was able to parry a long-range shot from Orel Mangala (53.).

The goalkeeper stood for regular Florian Müller between the posts, also at VfB the actual number two Fabian Bredlow was given preference this time.

Bredlow had an idle evening for a long time before giving the guests a chance when he let the ball slip out of his hands (60th).

Ermedin Demirovic was almost the beneficiary.

It was the starting signal for a good Freiburg phase, in which Grifo had another big chance (64th) and Bredlow wobbled again (71th).

But the goalkeeper was there for a shot by Demirovic (81st).

On the other hand, Kalajdzic (71st) and Mangala (72nd) missed the preliminary decision.