Bundesliga: Franco Di Santo nets only goal as Werder Bremen beat Hamburg

Bruno Labbadia's first game in his second spell as Hamburg coach ended in a 1-0 defeat as they went down to a late Franco Di Santo penalty in the northern Germany derby at Werder Bremen.

Di Santo struck in the last five minutes of a tense and combative derby after Valon Behrami was given his marching orders for a Hamburg side who prop up the rest of the division going into the final five games of the season.

Labbadia will have seen the size of the challenge he has accepted, although there were some positive signs too.

With Hamburg fighting for their lives at the foot of the table, it was no surprise that there was added spice to the northern Germany derby.

The challenges were that bit meaner than in any other game, although the referee was keeping a lid on things while Bremen were controlling the possession.

They were forced into a change midway through the first half when Jannik Vestergaard did not recover from a hefty challenge from Rafael van der Vaart, and Zoltan Stieber almost volleyed Hamburg in front soon after.

Bremen's best chance of the first half fell to Davie Selke, but his effort just before the break was wayward.

Levin Oztunali gave Hamburg goalkeeper Rene Adler some work to do as the game entered its final 10 minutes, and they were given a favour moments later by Behrami as he hauled Zlatko Junuzovic to the ground inside the penalty area, earning a straight red card too.

After the Swiss midfielder had finally left the field, Di Santo stepped up to the spot and gave Adler no chance, earning Bremen all three points and pushing Hamburg closer to their first ever relegation from the top flight of German football.