Under-fire Werder Bremen coach Florian Kohfeldt explained why he quickly went to the dressing room after his side's important 1-0 win over Freiburg.

A first-half goal from Leonardo Bittencourt was enough to lift Werder Bremen to a much-needed victory as they continued their fight against relegation in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Kohfeldt, who has faced criticism because of his side's position in the table, quickly left the field and said it was due to the circumstances amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"Self-protection, because I would have liked to take one or the other player in my arms, but I'm not allowed to do that at the moment," he told a news conference when asked about his move.

"I thought that I don't want to provide such pictures, because we are still in an exceptional situation. We are not allowed to cheer as usual.

"So I went into the changing room, sat down on my chair and was happy."

Werder Bremen are still two points behind Fortuna Dusseldorf, who occupy the relegation play-off spot, and six adrift of 15th-placed Mainz.

Since the Bundesliga was founded in 1963, Werder have spent every season bar one in the top flight, and Kohfeldt was pleased with his team's response at Freiburg.

"They gave all the emotions they have. It wasn't 99 per cent, it was 101 per cent of emotions. It's the base for what we need in the next weeks. We had to fight back," he said.

"On Monday it seemed so that we're nearly gone. That was the public perception. We didn't want to accept it. The players showed that we want to stay in this league.

"Christian [Streich, Freiburg coach] already said it that it was a lucky win but it was a win. We needed that now no matter in what way. It showed us that we can gain something, if we gave our best. Now we have to work on in order to play better."

Werder Bremen face fourth-placed Borussia Monchengladbach on Tuesday.