Head coach Florian Kohfeldt will have to do without his first choice goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka for the time being as he suffered a muscle strain in the DFB-Pokal loss to Eintracht Frankfurt, he reported in the press conference on Thursday.
Head coach Florian Kohfeldt will have to do without his first choice goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka for the time being as he suffered a muscle strain in the DFB-Pokal loss to Eintracht Frankfurt, he reported in the press conference on Thursday.
Kohfeldt didn’t give too many specifics as to length of time out for Pavlenka, but is sure that the keeper will not feature against Hertha BSC this coming Saturday. “He’ll be a big miss but I have a lot of faith in Stefanos Kapino. He’s done a good job in training and in the friendlies he’s played so I’m sure he’s ready to get out there and show everyone what he can do,” explained Kohfeldt. Pavlenka will travel back to Bremen with Luca Plogmann now heading to Berlin with the rest of the squad.
Also travelling with the team is Christian Groß, who will fill in for the injured Ömer Toprak after he suffered a contusion during the game on Wednesday. Philipp Bargfrede is also back and could make his first appearance of 2020 against Berlin. The midfielder travelled with the team for the first time since he suffered a calf injury in January for the game against Frankfurt, but wasn’t quite ready to feature.
The same goes for Claudio Pizarro. “He’s recovered from his back problem now and will replace Davie Selke in the squad,” said Kohfeldt. Selke will not be able to feature against his parent club Hertha on Saturday due to a clause in his contract.
