Werder Bremen’s midfield without Diego may not be an optimal situation considering the Brazilain playmakers performances in recent months but with the number 10 suspended after last week’s red card, trainer Thomas Schaaf was forced into making some changes. With Torsten Frings (injured), Tim Borowski and Frank Baumann (both ill) all out of the reckoning, the coach put his fate in his ‘Youngsters’ Daniel Jensen, Clemens Fritz, Jurica Vranjes and Mesut Özil - and successfully so!

In the particular in the second half, the youngsters really shone through and received a great deal of praise for their efforts from general manager Klaus Allofs: "Today you got to see that we have players like Daniel, Mesut and Aaron who can be creative, tactically disciplined and dangerous in front of goal. Daniel has been solid for some time now. Mesut has proven that he can be a very important part of our arsenal and it is clear to see that Aaron has become a little older and wiser, aided by the fact that he has a few more games under his belt. We have always maintained that he is a candidate for the national team if he can avoid injury over a longer period."

There was a further young player who managed to capture the attention of the Werder fateful yesterday. Sebastian Boenisch was in the starting eleven in front of the home fans for the first time on Saturday: “It is already clear to see just why we were so determined to sign him. He is quick and very capable with both feet. He attempted a lot and was willing to try his luck. When you consider how few games he has played in the Bundesliga, then it is clear that he can quickly improve further still”, glowed Allofs, who has reason to be optimistic about the future with so much talent within the ranks at Werder.