Problems started against Schalke

Jan Schlaudraff did not take part in the teams training regime on Tuesday. The problems started for the midfielder when he had to be substituted in the first half an hour against Schalke 04 last weekend and early indications were that the injury was a bad one. After the match the medical staff determined that he had injured his abdominal wall and would at the very least miss the match against Leverkusen.

Pinto sits on the sidelines too

Another player missing from the team training was the midfield lynchpin that is Sergio Pinto. There were doubts about the players’ fitness following a stomach infection last week, but he managed to come through Matchday 19 against the Royal Blues. Unfortunately he has had to deal with a recurrence of the infection. He managed to pull through last time, but it is still unclear whether the German–Portuguese player will be able to do so again on Friday.

Evseev and Carlitos making progress

However, there is also good news for the Reds as youngster Willi Evseev returned to first team training during the week and even got himself on the score sheet twice in the U-23’s 3-0 win over The VfL Bochum reserves in midweek. There was similar news for Carlitos, who continues to work intensively with 96-fitness man Edward Kowalczuk, but has now added a football to his training programs. It gives Slomka hope that his comeback after rupturing his cruciate ligament.