BERLIN, March 8 -- Milot Rashica's brace secured Werder Bremen's 4-2 comeback victory over struggling Schalke at the curtain raiser of the 25th round in Bundesliga on Friday.
Both sides staged an evenly balanced start into the encounter and exchanged blows at both ends of the pitch.
As the match progressed Schalke gained momentum and opened the scoring as Breel Embolo capitalized on Weston McKennie's flicked on ball to slot home from 11 meters into the far post corner with 26 minutes played.
The visitors should have doubled the lead only four minutes later but Steven Skrzybski pulled wide from 13 meters.
The hosts punished Schalke's wastefulness in the 31st minute when Milot Rashica benefitted on Max Kruse's cross to restore parity from 14 meters against the run of the play.
After the restart, Werder Bremen took the reins and were able to turn the tides six minutes into the second half after Max Kruse made no mistake from the penalty spot.
Schalke were shocked whereas the hosts continued on the front foot. It was thus just a matter of time before Bremen would double their lead in the 73rd minute when Rashica wrapped up his brace from 13 meters to make it 3-1.
However, the "Royal Blues" reduced the arrears out of the blue in the 85th minute as Breel Embolo scored his second goal of the night after heading home Bastian Oczipka's corner kick.
Bremen remained unimpressed and responded well through Martin Harnik, who put the result beyond doubt after hammering home from 16 meters to round off the 4-2 victory on home soil.
With the third loss in row Schalke remain on the 14th position in the table meanwhile Werder Bremen jumped on the 8th place.
The following fixtures are scheduled for Saturday: front runners Borussia Dortmund host Stuttgart, runner-up Bayern Munich face Wolfsburg, third placed Leipzig see Augsburg, Freiburg clash with Hertha Berlin and Mainz encounter Borussia Monchengladbach.