Werder Bremen suffered their second defeat in a row. The Green-Whites were beaten 2-0 (1-0) by Eintracht Frankfurt, who are in the last sixteen of the Champions League, in front of 48,000 spectators. SVW captain Marco Friedl started the defeat with an unfortunate own goal (7’). A few minutes after the restart, SGE’s prolific goal-scorer Randal Kolo Muani cemented the host’s victory (52’). Werder now drop to tenth in the Bundesliga with 27 points.

VfL Bochum 1848 has signed Ukrainian international Ivan Ordets on a one-year deal. This is made possible thanks to special rules adopted by FIFA as a result of the war in Ukraine. According to them, the contracts of foreign professionals playing in Russia may be suspended until 30/06/2023. Ivan Ordets has been playing for Russian Premier League club Dinamo Moscow since 2019.

Whether it’s on or off the pitch, Omar Mascarell is a key figure within the squad. In an interview with schalke04.de, the Spaniard spoke about his responsibilities as vice-captain and as a defensive midfielder, as well as his dream of playing for the national team. The 26-year-old also reveals what topic makes him the target of some good-natured ribbing from his teammates.

“Sergio Córdova made it clear early on that he would like to continue playing in the MLS. After we were able to add quality on the attacking side in the winter, we wanted to give him his chance in Vancouver, especially since the financial conditions of the transfer also suit us. We wish Sergio Córdova every success for the future in the MLS and all the best personally,” said Stefan Reuter, managing director of sport at FCA.

The Bavarians are skating through to the knockout stages after dominating the initial games on the slate and now the Rekordmeister has an opportunity to kick FC Barcelona’s Champions League hopes to the curb…and they should do it!

Djibril Sow: “It’s great to be able to give the fans the win because they were behind us, spurring us on right from kick-off. Marseille were tired by the end, they were pressing us all the way through and we managed the game well through to the final whistle. I hope that we can carry this through to mid-November. Every game in this group is in the balance. The first time we played them, we were the better side in the first half but we were a bit naive. We’ve developed as a team since then though and we want to prove that next Tuesday.”

Since Christian Streich has been in charge, Freiburg have faced BVB ten times in total, only managing a point in a 2-2 draw in the 2017/18 season. The SCF manager would like to change this statistic on Saturday, as he stressed at the press conference on Thursday: “It really annoys me when I hear a record like this, but we do have the opportunity to improve the statistics. It would be about time, but it’s not like I’m completely desperate now.”

Sandro Schwarz opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation for the last friendly before next weekend’s Bundesliga restart in Bochum (21/01/23, 15:30 CET). Oliver Christensen began in goal. Ahead of the Dane was a back-four of Jonjoe Kenny, Augstín Rogel, Marc Kempf and Maximilian Mittelstädt. Lucas Tousart and Jean-Paul Boëtius were in holding midfield, with Marco Richter, captain Prince Boateng and Derry Scherhant the trio supporting lone striker Wilfried Kanga.

(1.) What do you expect from youth players these days? (2.) What message do you generally...

Pre-match press conference ahead of the first leg against Manchester City | Marco Rose and Emil Forsberg speak to the media