It was one of those moments that symbolized Werder’s used evening in Sunday’s 4-0 home defeat against VfB Stuttgart. Not only did the result hurt, but captain Marco Friedl’s fall on his shoulder also made the Green-Whites hold their breath.
After a duel in the 53rd minute with his Stuttgart opponent Nikolas Nartey, Marco Friedl fell to the ground and crashed onto his left shoulder. The 27-year-old Austrian was writhing in pain and, after being treated for minutes on the pitch, had to be taken off the field prematurely.
There was great concern on the part of Bremen about a serious shoulder injury, which could possibly result in a longer injury break. An initial diagnosis followed on Monday after a detailed medical examination.
Werder’s team doctor Philip Heitmann was able to cautiously give the all-clear after the MRI examination on Monday: “The MRI did not show any relevant structural injury. However, it is an extremely painful bruise and compression of the acromioclavicular joint,” the team doctor was quoted as saying on the Werder homepage.
Coulibaly is out of Werder Bremen’s suspension
A diagnosis that hurts, but at least gives hope. This means that Friedl’s appearance in the last game of the year in Augsburg (Saturday from 3:30 p.m.) is at least not ruled out. The captain will train individually in the coming days. How resilient the shoulder is should be reassessed every day. So far, the 27-year-old has been in the starting eleven for the Green-Whites in 13 Bundesliga games this season.
Regardless of Friedl’s condition, SVW head coach Horst Steffen has to rebuild anyway. Karim Coulibaly will definitely be missing from the center. The 18-year-old saw yellow and red for the first time in his young professional career in the debacle against VfB.