Friedl to miss home game against Leverkusen | OneFootball

Friedl picked up an MCL sprain in his knee during the match against Eintracht Frankfurt (Photo: WERDER.DE).

Squad update from Horst Steffen’s press conference

Before Werder face Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the Green-Whites’ first home game of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season on Saturday 30th August at 15:30 CEST, head coach Horst Steffen gave a squad update during his press conference on Thursday.

In addition to the already sidelined Mitchell Weiser (ACL tear), Jens Stage (stress reaction in foot), Maximilian Wöber (muscular injury), Amos Pieper (loose bodies in hip) and Olivier Deman (broken ankle), two players who started against Eintracht Frankfurt are also unavailable for selection this weekend. Captain Marco Friedl will miss out with an MCL sprain, while Julian Malatini is also sidelined with a ligament injury. Meanwhile, Niklas Stark and Felix Agu, who trained individually at the start of the week in order to manage their workloads, are ready to play on Saturday.

“They’re both feeling better,” explained Horst Steffen when discussing the squad. “If there are no changes there, I’ll assume that they’re both able to play.” The head coach went on to reveal that Karim Coulibaly will make his first start for the club, with the 18-year-old defender set to come in for the unavailable Marco Friedl. There's a chance the Austrian could return to action after the international break, as is expected to be the case with Amos Pieper and Jens Stage.