BERLIN: Four more Bundesliga teams took a knee before their games on Sunday, as Werder Bremen inched closer to relegation and Union Berlin edged towards safety.

Borussia Dortmund and Hertha Berlin first kneeled ahead of their game on 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.

VfL Wolfsburg and Werder followed their example in Sunday’s opening game. Union and Schalke 04, 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 moved 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, German champions in 2009, in 17th place and facing relegation. That would mean only their second season outside the top division since the Bundesliga was founded.

Werder haven’t won at home in the league since September 1. They are six points off safety and three off Fortuna Dsseldorf in the relegation playoff spot. Wolfsburg climbed above Hoffenheim into sixth place and a Europa League spot.

It is very disappointing, but everything is still possible. We will give everything until the end,” said Werder captain Niklas Moisander to DAZN.

Werder are the league’s lowest scorers with 30 goals and have won just once at home all season, losing 11 times.

They travel to bottom side Paderborn next weekend in a match that could be decisive for their survival, with league leaders Bayern Munich the following weekend and relegation rivals Mainz 05 three days later.

Favourites to go down in their first ever Bundesliga season, Union are 14th on 32 points, seven ahead of Werder, and four away from the playoff spot.

However their Nigerian striker Anthony Ujah failed in his attempt to score and take the knee himself, as he had promised he would do on Saturday. Ujah did set up Robert Andrich’s neat 11th-minute opener.

Union are level on points with Augsburg, who snatched a late draw at home to Cologne thanks to Philipp Max’s 88th-minute equaliser, which came just three minutes after Anthony Modeste had fired the away side into the lead.

Cologne are 12th on 35 points after a draw which also saw Florian Niederlechner miss a first-half penalty for Augsburg.

Schalke, who grabbed a point at Union thanks to a fierce Jonjoe Kenny strike in the 28th minute, have failed to win in 12 league games but are 10th and are seven points from the European places.

It’s a tough situation we’re in but it’s a good step to come away and get a point at a difficult place to come,” said English goalscorer Kenny.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2020