Mike Büskens is looking forward to a sold-out VELTINS-Arena

According to the interim head coach, the moments after the final whistle against Heidenheim and Hannover will help to motivate the team during the run-in. “It’s nice to see how together the whole club is during this period.”

Together with the fans, S04 want to take the next step towards promotion against Werder. “Two good teams with big ambitions will meet this Saturday,” explained the 54-year-old. “Both have a dream and want to make that dream a reality.”

The reverse fixture, which ended 1-1 back in November 2021 after Werder scored a highly controversial penalty in the ninth minute of injury time to equalise, will not play any role in Büskens’ preparations for this meeting. “We won’t go over that again,” said the S04 coach. Büskens and his coaching team have been focusing on the present day ahead of matchday 31 instead. He feels that Bremen are a strong team with two dangerous strikers. “Marvin Ducksch and Niclas Füllkrug work really well together. They don’t think twice, they just look to get shots away,” reported Büskens.

Salif Sané has become a father

There was some good news regarding Salif Sané this week. The Senegalese defender became a father for the second time just a few days after the 5-2 win in Darmstadt. He will be available for the Werder match, confirmed Büskens: “Salif trained with us today and wants to help the team.”

It’s not yet known whether or not Andreas Vindheim and Thomas Ouwejan will be available for the Royal Blues. Vindheim suffered a blow to his shin in training and required treatment, whilst the Dutchman has only completed some running sessions this week after his recent calf injury. Büskens added: “We will need to weigh up whether we risk it or not. Maybe it’d be better to give Thomas more time?”

Marvin Pieringer will definitely miss Saturday’s crunch clash. The striker, who suffered a fractured cheekbone in the friendly against FC Utrecht during the international break in March, has also had an operation recently on a wisdom tooth. “We all hope that Marvin will feature again this season. I’m confident that he’ll still be really important for us,” stated Büskens, who also will not have Dong-gyeong Lee (fractured metatarsal) at his disposal. Marius Lode, however, is back after recovering from his Covid-19 infection which kept him out of the last two games.