Diego’s thigh injury, which has hindered his participation in team training since Tuesday, has not healed in time as had been hoped it might. Following an individual training session on Friday afternoon, the Brazilian was forced to pull out of Saturday’s clash with FC Energie Cottbus: “I’m still feeling pain and have informed the trainer of the situation,” explained the midfield playmaker on his way back to the changing room.
There is some good news though for the Werder training staff, with the personnel situation currently far less strained than has been the case for the bulk of the season. At the final training session, there were 22 players looking to fill the 18 places in the squad for this weekend’s game. Both the team captain, Frank Baumann and his deputy, Torsten Frings were back on the training pitch having both been kept out of the match against Karlsruhe SC last weekend through injury. Striker Hugo Almeida, who suffered a painful ‘dead-leg’ during Friday’s training session, was able to later declare his fitness. Aside from Diego trainer Schaaf will have to make do without Martin Harnik (inner ligament damage to his left knee) and Sebastian Boenisch (thigh injury).
The following 18 man squad was nominated for the clash with Energie Cottbus: Wiese, Vander, Pasanen, Naldo, Vranjes, Fritz, Rosenberg, Özil, Hunt, Klasnic, Jensen, Mertesacker, Baumann, Owomoyela, Sanogo, Frings, Borowski, Almeida.