The head coach on the game: "In Schalke, we are coming up against a team with real individual brilliance – especially going forward," said Werder’s head coach Florian Kohfeldt in his pre-match comments on the opposition. Aside from an abundance of dangerous forwards, Kohfeldt is wary of Schalke’s pace, in players like Amine Harit, or Leon Goretzka. Despite all the quality they possess, Werder have no intention of hiding in the VELTINS-Arena: "We’re going there to win. There’s a good atmosphere within the team and we have a game plan to beat them on Saturday," declared the boss, before adding: "We haven’t got what we deserved out of the last games and we want to change that."
Model students: Saturday’s clash will see two football professors shake hands and go head to head. Florian Kohfeldt graduated 2015 from the elite coaching course as top student. One year later, Domenico Tedesco became his successor.
7 times 4: No fewer than seven players are in danger of a yellow card suspension going into Saturday’s game. Philipp Bargfrede, Robert Bauer and Florian Kainz for Werder; Naldo, Daniel Caliguiri, Max Meyer and Matija Nastasic for Schalke.