Bremen without Mertesacker for Spurs, Bayern

Werder Bremen defender Per Mertesacker will miss both next Tuesday’s Champions League match against Tottenham Hotspur and this weekend’s Bundesliga clash with Bayern Munich with a broken eye socket.

The 25-year-old defender suffered the facial injury in the first-half of Germany’s 6-1 win over Azerbaijan in a Euro 2012 qualifier on Tuesday and now faces an indefinite period out.

The timing is bad for Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf with Werder set to play Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in the German league on Saturday evening before hosting Premier League side Tottenham in Group A three days later.

“He will definitely be out on Saturday in Munich and Tuesday against Tottenham Hotspur,” said Schaaf.

Bremen already have Brazilian defender Naldo out with a knee problem and, short on fit defenders, Schaaf could hand French defender Mikael Silvestre, signed recently from Arsenal, an earlier debut than planned.

“I immediately had a feeling that it was not going to be good,” said Schaaf about the challenge when Mertesacker was hurt.

“Of course, it’s a very unsatisfying situation for us.

“In addition to Naldo, now we have a second key defender out who really dominated in central defence in the past.”