Only three days after the important last-gasp victory against Schalke 04, the Bremen men will play their next away fixture. This time the Green-Whites will face Bayer Leverkusen in the DFB-Pokal quarterfinals. While Zlatko Junuzović will return to the starting line-up, there are question marks over Philipp Bargfrede.
One thing is certain and that is that head coach Florian Kohfeldt will select a different formation to start the game against Leverkusen on Tuesday evening (KO 20:45 CET) than in the 2-1 away win against Schalke 04. “There’s a good chance that we’ll rotate a few positions, but we could also start with a similar formation to the Schalke game. Zlatko will definitely start,” said Kohfeldt about his captain the day before the DFB-Pokal fixture.
Whether Junuzović will join Philipp Bargfrede on the pitch to face Heiko Herrlich’s Leverkusen to fight for a place in the semifinals is more than questionable: “We’ll do all we can to enable Philipp to play, but we definitely won’t be stupid. At the current moment, unfortunately it looks like he won’t be able to play tomorrow,” says Kohfeldt about Werder’s number 44, who is suffering from a foot injury.
Werder’s new defensive signing Sebastian Langkamp will be available for selection by Florian Kohfeldt, as are the rest of the squad with the exception of long-term injuries. “Basti actually picked up a small hand injury while celebrating the win, but it won’t stop him from playing Leverkusen,” says Kohfeldt with a chuckle.