Squad update: “Max will try everything,” Kohfeldt said in regards to the injured Max Kruse. The Werder captain picked up a thigh injury during a tackle against Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich. “He can handle the pain. The thing is whether or not he can run, shoot, and sprint properly,” the head coach said. Missing along with an injured Fin Bartels will be Nuri Sahin. Sahin picked up a second yellow card during the quarterfinal against Schalke, and is suspended for the semi-final. One player with DFB-Pokal experience who could feature as Sahin’s replacement is Philipp Bargfrede. Both him and Johannes Eggestein could feature in Wednesday’s lineup.
The boss on the game: Florian Kohfeldt was not entirely satisfied with his team’s performance in Munich. While he praised the team for their defence, the same could not be said for Werder’s offence. “You have to be active on both ends. You have to have the feeling that your opponents are also chasing after the ball at some points. It’s really difficult, but we are going to try it,” Kohfeldt said. The head coach sees it as a positive that the two teams are facing each other twice in a matter of days. “Some things you experience only against Bayern. I’m counting on certain players not needing to familiarize themselves with this anymore,” Kohfeldt said. “Both teams have something to lose—especially Bayern.”
The opponents: Bayern have made it to the final of the DFB-Pokal 22 times, taking it home 18 times. Their last DFB-Pokal victory came during the 2015-16 season. Their opponent in the semi-final? Werder Bremen. Werder will do everything they can on Wednesday evening in order to prevent history from repeating itself. Bremen already know what it is like to play against Bayern. Bremen were able to hold off Bayern for most of the match, before going a man down shortly before Niklas Süle scored the lone goal of the match.