Werder Bremen’s Max Kruse remains one of Bundesliga’s most exciting players

Max Kruse’s work in the midfield has plenty to do with Werder Bremen’s successful campaign.

Facing a Schalke squad that had everything to prove on matchday 25, Werder Bremen fell behind early, courtesy of a Breel Embolo goal. Just five minutes later, however, Max Kruse set up rising star Milo Rashica for a wonderful finish. From there, Werder didn’t look back, defeating Schalke 4-2, overcoming Embolo’s brace and a strong first half from Domenico Tedesco’s floundering side.

The story of the evening was the combination of Kruse and Rashica, who couldn’t be in more different situations as Bremen’s attackers. Rashica is a 22-year-old who can be one of Bremen’s biggest stars for years to come, and has all the technical ability in the world. With some more consistency, Rashica can be one of the Bundesliga’s most dangerous goalscoring threats.

Meanwhile, Kruse is a proven commodity at 30, and after a doomed spell at Wolfsburg, he’s back to his previous form for Borussia Monchengladbach. Against Schalke, Kruse provided fans with a vintage performance.

At Bremen, Kruse is able to play the role of a creative central attacking midfielder, and he’ll drift all over the pitch to make things happen. Kruse is one of those players who’s at his best when he’s in the right mood, spraying passes and using his craftiness to make defenders foolish.

He sliced Schalke with a goal, an assist, four key passes, two shots on target, three successful dribbles and two fouls drawn, per WhoScored.com. It was an all-action display from a Bundesliga icon, and performances like this could help Bremen creep up the table.

Kruse is tied with Rashica for the club lead with six goals, and his six assists are also first on the team. Bremen rely on their playmaking attacking midfielder, and Kruse hasn’t failed them to this point in the season. Though Bremen has a few other important players in Rashica, Davy Klaassen, Theodor Gebre Selassie and Maximillian Eggestein, Kruse remains the star pulling the strings.

Who can stop Bayern Munich?

Wolfsburg weren’t a team in disarray when they came into matchday 25, but the seventh-placed Wolves, who were on a six-game unbeaten streak in the league, left matchday 25 as the biggest losers.

It was a thorough demolition job from Bayern Munich, who didn’t ease up on the gas pedal with first place in sight. They wanted to move ahead of Borussia Dortmund on goal differential, and after a 6-0 drubbing of a generally decent Wolfsburg side, they are in first by two goals.

Wolfsburg must now watch for Hoffenheim and a rising Werder side creeping behind them, but the real story is Bayern’s dominance. This team is playing unselfish, inspired attacking soccer under Niko Kovac’s, and after showing signs of running roughshod over their opponents, they put it all together on matchday 25 against a helpless Wolfsburg defense.

Nothing epitomized their day more than an inch-perfect pass from the keenly-aware James Rodriguez, who was in his best form all season after a brief dry spell, to Serge Gnabry, who showed just as much awareness in teeing up an open Robert Lewandowski instead of going for goal himself.

Bayern have one of the most balanced squads in Europe, and now that they’re finally playing to their potential, Dortmund aren’t the only team in the continent who must watch out.

Can Breel Embolo save Schalke?

Coming into this season, there were high hopes for 22-year-old Swiss striker Breel Embolo, who was purchased for a cool 20 million Euros in 2016 and clearly looked like the best striker on the squad. Though injuries prevented Embolo from establishing his place on the roster ahead of Guido Brugstaller, the future star made his mark on matchday 25 against Bremen.

Schalke couldn’t quite put together a complete game and were once again shocking in the midfield — the decision to bench Salif Sane also came back to bite them defensively — but it wasn’t for a lack of trying on Embolo’s part. He showed his quality on numerous occasions, skillfully beating defenders, bullying them with his strength in the box, working hard to make smart runs and grabbing two goals in the process.

In 14th place, Schalke have five losses and one draw in their last six, and both Stuttgart and Augsburg behind them have looked like better teams. The risk of relegation is there for Schalke, but they may have finally found their star striker and savior in Embolo, who clearly has the most talent of anyone on this thoroughly underwhelming team.

Quick hits

• After pushing Bayern Munich to their limit and upsetting Borussia Dortmund, Augsburg played RB Leipzig to a 0-0 draw. With Schalke continuing to slide, Augsburg are a team to watch for a late-season charge at the bottom of the table.
• Andrej Kramaric scored the goal of the week with a beautiful backheel finish through Christian Mathenia’s legs, sealing a 2-1 win for Hoffenheim over Nurnberg. Kramaric is such a quality player at his best, and it’s a shame that injuries have prevented us from watching Kramaric, Joelinton, Ishak Belfodil, and the spectacular Kerem Demirbay on the same pitch enough this season.
• It hasn’t been the best of seasons for Christian Pulisic, but the Chelsea-bound attacking midfielder seems to always come up big in the clutch. After being subbed on in the 79th minute, Pulisic helped Dortmund rescue three points, and his 91st-minute goal came off of a nifty striker’s finish. Pulisic’s decision-making and ability to beat defenders need improvement, but his ability to produce an end product is indeed impressive.