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Niclas Füllkrug on the ball
Photo:
IMAGO/nordphoto GmbH / Teresa Kroeger / IMAGO/Nordphoto
Bundesliga club Werder Bremen have cautiously given the all-clear after replacing their top scorer due to injury.
'It's going towards horse kiss, bruise.
That's nothing very dramatic in terms of time period.
But we have to see how it looks on Tuesday,” said Werder coach Ole Werner after the game.
On Tuesday, Bremen will play in the Bundesliga at FC Bayern Munich (8.30 p.m. / Sky).
Füllkrug had to leave the field in the 60th minute of the 2-1 (1-0) win against FC Schalke 04 on Saturday evening, visibly plagued by back pain. Oliver Burke came on as a substitute.
In the first half (30th) Füllkrug gave Bremen the lead.
Everything the Werder Bremen striker is doing at the moment is being examined for its possible consequences for the 29-year-old's participation in the World Cup.
If he scores again, as he did in the win against FC Schalke 04, it supposedly increases his chances even further of being nominated by national coach Hansi Flick for the tournament in Qatar next Thursday.
After Füllkrug's injury on Saturday evening, however, many in the stadium had the first impulse: Is his call to the national team now in danger again?
However, his participation in the World Cup will apparently not fail because of his back problems.
The injury is also painful for Füllkrug itself, but not serious.
»I went into the game with slight calf problems.
And then got a kick in the back," said the striker.
His reproach to Schalke: They "also used it as a stylistic device to jump in the back from time to time," he said on Sky.
“I got a knee in some action, then came the calf and achilles tendon.
That's why I went out."
As far as his World Cup chances are concerned, the most accurate German striker of this Bundesliga season was once again very cautious: »There are still five days left – then everyone will know.
Until then we are curious.«
After his goal to make it 1-0 against Schalke (30th minute), Füllkrug has ten goals this season after 13 games.
ara/dpa