With a lot of struggle Leverkusen managed to end the negative run of four winless matches, after two penalties against Hansa in Rostock. Successful deliverers were Rolfes and Castro, whose strikes saw Leverkusen climb on fourth that leads directly to UEFA Cup.
Coach Skibbe is aware that if his side lose in this match, whole season will be wasted and Leverkusen probably won’t play in UEFA Cup next season. Precisely because of that coach decided for a somewhat defensive approach with only one forward. Lonely Bulykin will be supported by Barbarez, Barnetta and Dum from the midfield. Due to a red card Kiesling will miss the second match in a row, while five yellow cards will prevent Hegeler from playing. The squad will definitely miss injured Haggui, Sinkiewicz and captain Schneider, who will watch the match from Bay Arena stands.
If in any case the referees were better when Werder played in Karlsruher four rounds ago, the green would have 100% efficiency with seven successive wins. In the last appearance in front of their fans this season, Werder demolished Hannover 6:1, and the most interesting thing in that match was that even six different players got on the scoresheet.
Coach Schaaf won’t be able to count on standard keeper Wiese who will miss the match due to an ankle injury, so he will most likely field Vander instead. Unlike his colleague, Schaaf decided to field a standard formation with two forwards so Rosenberg and Hugo Almeida will play in tandem. Attacking dup will be supported by the best scorer of the club Diego from the midfield as well as captain Frings and Borowski. In the last six matches with Leverkusen Werder marked five wins and a draw so they will travel with a lot of optimism and one point will be enough for them to get automatic Champions league promotion. Vranjes booked a red card so he won't play, while Klasniæ, Jensen, Artmann and Bischof are injured.
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