Despite Mainz’s form and position just outside the top four, Bremen flew out of the blocks and hit the bar via a Romano Schmid header inside the first minute.
Their relentless pressing had their opponents on the back foot, and a poor touch from Mainz stopper Robin Zentner forced him into a challenge with Schmid, who went down and was awarded a penalty despite the goalkeeper making faint contact on the ball first.
Perhaps justice was served, then, when Zentner dived to his right to keep out the spot-kick from Marvin Ducksch, denying the Bremen forward an early opener for the fourth consecutive H2H meeting with Die Nullfunfer.
Ole Werner’s men didn’t have to wait too much longer for their deserved opener though, with Issa Kabore touching it down among corner-kick chaos to set up Leonardo Bittencourt, who smashed in from point-blank range.
The hosts were less potent but remained in control after that, and could have extended their lead when Schmid played through Ducksch, but his decision to try to chip Zentner proved to be the wrong one.
Schmid poked just wide as the second half got underway, but Mainz began to really make their mark through Nelson Weiper, who first forced Michael Zetterer to stretch in order to save his curling effort before teeing up Paul Nebel, whose shot was blocked.
Danny da Costa was the next to go close for the visitors when his long-range strike bounced against the upright having taken a huge deflection off Anthony Jung, shortly before Nebel’s chip beat Zetterer but not Niklas Stark on the line.
Mainz continued to pile bodies forward as the match reached its final stages, leading to chaos at both ends. Justin Njinmah failed to put the game to bed by dinking over one-on-one, and Mainz were given a boost in stoppage time when both Stark and Marco Friedl were sent off for second yellow cards in stoppage time.
That wasn’t punished though, and Mainz ultimately avoided the scoresheet for just the second time in 11 matches.
It just wasn’t to be on the night for Bo Henriksen’s men, who still won’t finish the matchday lower than seventh despite losing three of their last four matches, while Bremen’s European hopes are reignited by a first win of 2025.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Romano Schmid (Werder Bremen)