Werder Bremen 2-2 Wolfsburg

Per Mertesacker saved Werder Bremen's lengthy unbeaten record with a last-gasp equaliser in a dramatic northern Germany derby.

Edin Dzeko gave the defending German champions the lead in the 42nd minute, but Hugo Almeida replied in the 62nd minute.

Dzeko's second five minutes from time looked to have earned the Wolves all three points, but Mertesacker pounced to make it 21 games without a defeat for Bremen and lift them back to the top of the Bundesliga.

Bremen set about extending their 20-game unbeaten record with Almeida coming close to giving them a fifth-minute lead.

Diego Benaglio made a fine one-handed save on the stretch to touch the Portuguese striker's goal-bound header wide of the post.

Wolfsburg forged an excellent opportunity in the 26th minute with Grafite unable to provide a worthy finish to a string of one-touch passes involving Zvjezdan Misimovic and Karim Ziani which tore open the Bremen defence.

The Wolves were certainly showing a lot of confidence, despite losing two games over the last week, and there was not too much surprise when they went ahead just before the break.

Dzeko's determination took him past Sebastian Boenisch and Naldo as he cut in from the right and then placed his shot into the far corner of Tim Wiese's goal.

Moments earlier, Makoto Hasebe had saved the Wolves from going behind when he headed Naldo's effort off the goal line.

Bremen responded well to a half-time dressing down from coach Thomas Schaaf and they were level with just over an hour played.

Hasebe again made a clearance off the goal line with Naldo again denied, but the ball fell out to Almeida, who sent it back past Hasebe into the back of the net to leave no doubt about the first effort going in, as Aaron Hunt was claiming.

At the other end, Dzeko was looking a handful for the Bremen defence and he came close to a second with a shot against the side-netting midway through the second half.

And he was rewarded for his persistency with his and Wolfsburg's second goal five minutes from time.

He showed his alertness to beat Mertesacker to a quickly-taken free-kick by Ziani and beat Wiese with a right-footed shot from 10 yards out.

But there was still time for Mertesacker to salvage a point for Bremen and preserve their unbeaten record as he headed Mesut Ozil's corner past Benaglio in stoppage time.