One could sense already at Thursday's official Werder press conference that head coach Thomas Schaaf would not have the services of Philipp Bargfrede and Denni Avdic in Saturday's home match against Schalke. And the main news from Friday's final training was that neither player was on the training grounds, meaning they will not be on the roster for the game against the Champions League semi-finalists. While Bargfrede is battling with an infection, Avdic is dealing with the effects of a bruised cheekbone he suffered in the game against Eintracht Frankfurt. Also not in the game squad is Daniel Jensen, who returned to training Thursday after a long time out injured.
Former Werder player Andreas Herzog was one of the spectators along the fence at Friday's training and he hopes the Green-Whites can bag three points. "Of course I hope for a victory for Werder. It doesn't matter if it's 1-0 or 4-3 - though personally I would rather see a 4-3," said the Austrian U21 national team coach. "But I know that Tim Wiese would see that differently."
The following 16 players are on the Green-Whites squad for the Schalke match: Wiese, Mielitz - Pasanen, Wesley, Borowski, Arnautovic, Fritz, Marin, Hunt, Silvestre, Wagner, Frings, Pizarro, Mertesacker, Trinks, Schmidt