The quotes ahead of the game: The Green-Whites have a clear target for the last league game of the year – three points. “I want the team to give it their all, play with intelligence and then hopefully, we can get out of the relegation places. It’s in our hands,” head coach Florian Kohfeldt said. Werder’s top goalscorer Max Kruse wants to approach the game against the Rhineland in a similarly positive manner to the last home games against Hannover and Stuttgart. “We need to take that positivity and go again,” Kruse said. For Thomas Delaney, the game against Mainz is a good opportunity to put the Leverkusen loss behind them – “When we lose, I immediately look ahead because there’s no point looking back. It is even better that three days after the Leverkusen game we have a chance to make up for that result.”
Öztunali reunion on the rocks: From early 2015 to the summer of 2016, Levin Öztunali plied his trade at the Weserstadion, making 46 appearances in the Green-White jersey. However, a reunion with the Germany U21 international is in doubt, as is dangerman Yoshinori Muto’s inclusion in Saturday’s game. The Zerofivers that will definitely not make the trip to Bremen are Rene Adler, Stefan Bell, Suat Serdar and Jean-Philippe Gbamin. For Werder, it is not yet clear whether Luca Caldirola or Aron Johannsson will be fit in time, while Philpp Bargfrede and Zlatko Junuzovic will also have to be monitored.