The next stage of Werder Bremen's preparations for the up-coming season has begun as the team boarded the bus at 6 p.m. for Erfurt. There were 23 players on board though a prominent trio were missing. Goalkeeper Tim Wiese (gastro intestinal infection), striker Marko Arnautovic (cystitis) and midfielder Mehmet Ekici (adductors problem) had to pass on the trip.

"They will recuperate here or go through an individual program. One or the other could possibly make it back and come to the game on Thursday but that is not likely," said head coach Thomas Schaaf. The trip to the Thuringia capital is a tour of home for one of the members of the group. But Clemens Fritz, who was born there and still has close contact to his family and friends there, knows there will not be much time to re-connect with those loved ones.

"First of all, I am happy that an interesting football evening will take place in Erfurt again. For me personally, it's nice to play at home. But all my friends and I know that I am here on business. We have a tight program which doesn't all much time for meeting people," said Fritz, who played for Rot-Weiß until 2001 before heading to Bremen via Karlsruhe and Leverkusen.