For Werder head coach Alexander Nouri, the match also presents a trip to his footballing past. Nouri played for VfL Osnabrück from 2004 to 2008 and scored nine goals in 93 appearances. It is however not long since Nouri has faced his old club as Werder head coach, with the Green-Whites beating them 5-1 in a friendly eight months ago. Max Kruse scored a brace, whilst Florian Kainz, Robert Bauer and Lennart Thy all got their names on the scoresheet.
Alongside Alexander Nouri, a number of the Green-Whites squad are also pretty familiar with Niedersachsen. Ousman Manneh, Michael Zetterer, Jesper Verlaat, Milos Veljkovic, Niklas Schmidt, Ulisses Garcia and Johannes Eggestein played against Osnabrücker in last season’s 3. Liga, with the Werder U23 side doing the double over this afternoon’s opposition.