“This is a massive opportunity, 100 per cent,” he said.

“The boys once again showed a mentality on the pitch that we haven’t seen for some time,” beamed coach Christian Wück after a dramatic game, in which the German side had to play with ten men for 75 minutes after centre-back Dal saw a red card after a quarter of an hour for a foul in the box. Boteli converted the resulting penalty to give Switzerland a 1-0 lead.

SV Werder Bremen will be without Leon Opitz for a number of weeks. Scans revealed that the attacker ruptured a ligament in his ankle during the Green-Whites’ friendly against Hansa Rostock.

“It’s a pity for everyone that Jamal won’t be with us in the next games. We hope that he can play again after the international break, especially for the last games of the season at his club,” Flick said a press conference (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).

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“After five-and-a-half years at Arminia, in which we were very successful with promotion to the Bundesliga and staying up, I would like to try something new. I know Union from many games as an opponent. The path that the team and the club have taken in recent years is impressive. I’m very much looking forward to now becoming part of this team and helping to achieve their targets in three competitions,” said the striker who joins Union on a free transfer.

“The players are fine and everybody is looking forward to Sunday, really,” Palace co-owner Parish told Sky Sports.

The scenario: There was only really pride to play for. BVB occupied third spot before the game. Both Oldenburg and Blomberg-Lippe could have made up the points difference but had a significantly worse goal difference. Leverkusen could not finish below ninth place. 

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Werder suffered a narrow 2-1 friendly defeat to Hansa Rostock. After Justin Njinmah gave the Green-Whites an early lead (18’), Kai Pröger equalised for Rostock on the stroke of half time. Rostock started the second half the better and went ahead through Simon Rhein’s free kick (61’), which turned out to be the winning goal.