28.01.2010

Frontzeck praises Bremen's attacking qualities

"We have a lot of respect for Werder Bremen", said Michael Frontzeck at today's press conference ahead of Saturday's BORUSSIA PARK clash (1530 CET).

"A compact unit is what we'll need to be on Saturday", he continued. "We have to play to the limit and hold our own for 90 minutes, it's going to be a really interesting game. Bremen have always found it hard to play defensively, they're a team who like to attack. And when it comes to going forward there's hardly a team to match them in Germany with the quality they have."

Borussia have trained well this week despite the weather, and after today's recovery session (the players will train one more time tomorrow) all the fit players are in good shape. This also applies to Rob Friend, who has recovered from a cut heel and spent a lot of time practising his shooting yesterday. If the Canadian comes through tomorrow's session without any problems he will be in the squad for Bremen. "Rob was in good form until his injury", Frontzeck said. "Physically he hasn't lost much and I'm hoping he'll be able to help us soon."

Borussia will still be without five players on Saturday, however. Striker Karim Matmour is at the Africa Cup with Algeria, while defenders Paul Stalteri (MCL sprain), Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker (foot tendonitis) and Christian Dorda (ruptured patellar tendon) and midfielder Gal Alberman (rehab training after heel surgery) remained sidelined.

Borussia have sold 46,600 tickets so far for the visit of Bremen. Tickets are still available in all parts of the ground with the exception of the standing area in the North Stand. As usual, tickets are available on the Internet, at the three fan shops (BORUSSIA PARK, Marienhof and Shopping Galerie Rheydt) and, in Germany, from the ticket hotline on 01805 – 181900 (14 cents/min from a landline phone/mobile charges may vary). The stadium outlets will open at 1300 CET on Saturday, and tickets will also be on sale at the BORUSSIA PARK fan shop an hour earlier.