Bremen(Agencies): Four more
Bundesliga teams took a knee before their games, as Werder Bremen inched closer
to relegation and Schalke's winless run became its worst for 27 years.
Borussia Dortmund and Hertha Berlin first kneeled ahead of
their game Saturday in an anti-racism gesture following mass protests against
police brutality and racism across the United States over the killing of George
Floyd, a handcuffed black man, in Minneapolis on May 25.
Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen followed their example in
Sunday's opening game. Union Berlin and Schalke — whose midfielder Weston
McKennie was the first in Germany to protest last week — also kneeled ahead of
their 1-1 draw Sunday. The referee and his assistants joined in.
Wolfsburg beat Werder 1-0 to take a step toward the Europa
League while Werder moves closer to relegation from the Bundesliga.
They were heading for a largely uneventful 0-0 draw in
torrential rain before the 82nd minute, when Wolfsburg's substitute winger
Felix Klaus curled in a cross from the right and Wout Weghorst met it with a
bouncing header into the Werder goal.
The result leaves Werder, last a German champion in 2009, in
17th place and facing relegation. That would mean only its second season
outside the top division since the Bundesliga was founded.
Werder hasn't won at home in the league since September 1.
It is six points off safety and three off Fortuna Düsseldorf in the relegation
playoff spot. Wolfsburg climbed above Hoffenheim into sixth place and a Europa
League spot.
Union and Schalke kept their unwanted records of not having
won since the league restarted amid the coronavirus pandemic. While Union was
happy with a point to edge away from the relegation zone, Schalke was again
frustrated as its winless run hit 12 games in all competitions, its worst since
1993.
Robert Andrich gave Union the lead on a rapid counterattack,
his first goal coming with his 48th shot of the season, but Schalke answered with
a powerful long-range strike from Jonjoe Kenny, the right-back on loan from
Everton.
Fans are barred from Bundesliga matches because of the
pandemic, but Union supporters made their voices heard at the game.
Around 30 people gathered in a forested area near the
stadium Sunday, standing apart for social distancing, and police on site chose
not to intervene, the dpa agency reported.
Their chants were clearly audible in the stadium and on TV,
something Andrich called “really beautiful." Cologne's Anthony Modeste
thought he'd given his team its first win since the Bundesliga restart when he
volleyed the ball in from the edge of the box against Augsburg in the 85th
minute.
It wasn't to be as Philipp Max tapped in a cross at the far
post to earn a 1-1 draw in the 88th. Cologne is 12th and Augsburg 13th.
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