Füllkrug scores in sixth straight game, one short of Völler's Werder record

Niclas Füllkrug converted two penalties in Werder Bremen's 3-2 win at Mainz on Saturday, taking the 33-year-old striker to eight Bundesliga goals and a sixth consecutive league game on the scoresheet.

That leaves him one match away from equalling a club record. Rudi Völler, now Germany's sporting director, scored in seven Bremen league games in a row in 1982/83. Füllkrug has also drawn level with Völler's other Werder mark: eight goals in the first seven matchdays of a season.

Two penalties, one early lead

Bremen had come back from 0-2 down in each of their previous three league games, a run no Bundesliga side had managed before without losing. This time they led after seven minutes. Mainz's Stefan Posch fouled Bremen right-back Arthur, and Füllkrug scored from the spot. He doubled the lead from a second penalty in the 25th minute, after Danny da Costa brought down Bremen's Marco Grüll, this time shooting high into the left corner.

Mainz pulled one back through Anthony Caci's header (33'). Ludovit Reis restored the two-goal margin with a shot deflected in by Phillipp Mwene (61'), before Lee Jae-sung headed in two minutes later. Bremen goalkeeper Karl Hein then denied Mainz's Germany international Nadiem Amiri the equaliser.

The win lifts Bremen past Mainz into sixth place on 12 points, level with fifth-placed RB Leipzig and five behind leaders Borussia Dortmund. It is Bremen's best start to a season in eight years, and they are unbeaten in six league games. Mainz, seventh on 10 points, have not won a home league game since March.

Two flashpoints

Füllkrug was substituted in the 81st minute and shouted towards his own bench. "I was completely finished and was waiting for the substitution, because I realised we needed eleven men on the pitch who could really keep running," he told Sky. Bremen coach Daniel Thioune took no offence: "He is our lighthouse, and he is shining brightly right now."

After the final whistle Füllkrug and Amiri stood head to head and had to be separated by teammates. "Everything's fine. I know Fülle," Amiri told Sky, adding that a few insults had been exchanged "but no stress". Füllkrug said on ZDF: "Nadiem had a short fuse, but that's understandable too."

The Klopp question

The goals keep feeding a debate about a return to the national team. In the days before the game, Germany coach Jürgen Klopp told DAZN that Füllkrug "scores one goal after another in the Bundesliga, but he is 33. That's not my fault." Thioune replied that Füllkrug is currently among the best German strikers.

Füllkrug, who returned to Bremen on loan from West Ham United in the summer after playing for the club from 2019 to 2023, said Klopp had "rather listed two facts". Asked whether he hoped for a call before Germany's November games against Serbia and the Netherlands, he said: "It doesn't interest me. Zero point zero."

He put his form down to fitness: "In the past two years I was never once at the fitness level I'm at now." Bremen play in the DFB-Pokal on Tuesday. Füllkrug's next chance to match Völler's run comes at home to Hoffenheim on Saturday.