Bremen stars face fitness reace

Werder Bremen are sweating on the fitness of Tim Borowski and Sebastian Boenisch ahead of Thursday’s meeting with Athletic Bilbao, where the top two teams in Group L of the Europa League go head-to-head at the Weserstadion.

Germany midfielder Borowski has been struggling with a back injury in the wake of Saturday’s 3-0 win over Mainz, while left-back Boenisch took a blow to his thigh in training on Monday.

Speaking on his club’s official website last night, Borowski said: “I had problems after the game with Mainz, and also had pain after training yesterday.”

On whether he would be fit to face Athletic, the former Bayern Munich man said: “I can still not assess that at the moment. I have to wait for the diagnosis.”

Boenisch also missed training yesterday with his thigh complaint and coach Thomas Schaaf will wait until tomorrow to make a decision on his fitness.

“It has become big, we have to see how it looks on Thursday and be patient,” Schaaf said.

Defender Per Mertesacker is expected to be fit despite having to leave training early yesterday after suffering a cut on his eyebrow after colliding with a team-mate. Bremen will definitely be without the injured Hugo Almeida and Sebastian Prodl.

Bremen began their group campaign with a 3-2 win at Nacional, while Athletic claimed an impressive 3-0 home win over Austria Vienna in their first match.

That was one of four successive wins for the Basque outfit at the start of the season, but Joaquin Caparros’ side have stumbled of late and in their last two games have slumped to a 1-0 defeat at promoted Tenerife before being mauled 4-0 at home by Sevilla at the weekend.

Despite those defeats, highly-rated young midfielder Javi Martinez insists the mood in the camp is good, saying: “The level of confidence is the same.

“We are in a good position and it is a good occasion against one of Europe’s big teams. A lot will depend on if we go out and play like we need to.”

Caparros has made a host of changes to the side that lost heavily to Sevilla, with Aitor Ocio, Mikel San Jose, Igor Gabilondo, Ander Iturraspe and Aitor Fernandez all being named in a 20-man squad.

Markel Susaeta, Xabi Etxeita and Eneko Boveda all drop out, and they join the injured Pablo Orbaiz, Ion Velez, Inigo Diaz de Cerio, Inaki Munoz and Iban Zubiaurre on the sidelines.