Every little detail suggested it would almost immediately find its way into the annals of legend. It started as a last-ditch attempt from a set piece, in the fourth of five minutes of stoppage time, with the clock ticking towards the climax at seemingly twice its normal pace and the goalkeeper, Mio Backhaus, wandering up for the corner in desperation rather than genuine hope of his Anatoliy Trubin moment.
It was pinball; Marco Grüll’s delivery was headed out, nodded back towards goal by Isaac Schmidt and heading out for a goal-kick, only for Senne Lynen to stretch and just about keep it in, slicing it up in the air, before it fell to Keke Topp. The 21-year-old’s sublime finish appeared to have been cut and pasted from a different sequence entirely, a sumptuous left-foot volley on the swivel that arrowed past Borussia Mönchengladbach’s goalkeeper, Moritz Nicolas, hitting the net and lifting the roof off.
Werder Bremen’s equaliser felt like a near-miracle. On a day and in a minute that looked like it would be their coach’s last, they had finally, improbably coaxed the sound of the ship horn and The Proclaimers’ 500 Miles from the Weserstadion’s speakers with a goal to snatch a point at the last.
