Kruse also returns while Osako continues to recover from international duty

“Claudio will train with the rest of the squad today and tomorrow. In recent days, he has dealt with the workload very well and will fly to Freiburg with the rest of the squad,” said Werder head coach Florian Kohfeldt. At the start of the week, Kruse and Pizarro had been training individually before Kruse also returned to full team training on Friday.

Kohfeldt remains uncertain whether Yuya Osako will feature in Freiburg after his long journey back from international duty with Japan. “I saw him yesterday and he impressed me. He won’t train with the rest of the squad and he will use today as a recovery day,” said Kohfeldt. Osako will definitely be in the squad to face Freiburg. However, the coach explained in his press conference that “I certainly cannot give an indication to his fitness until Saturday at the earliest.”