Mertesacker Set For Lengthy Spell On The Sidelines With Facial Injury

Per Mertesacker Could Miss Vital Games For Werder Bremen.

During Germany’s European Championship qualifying match against Azerbaijan, towering defender Per Mertesacker received an accidental elbow to the face after challenging for a ball with an Azerbaijani attacker. While at first the knock looked minor, it has been confirmed that Mertesacker will miss up to six weeks of action due to his injury.

It was determined by the German medical staff that Mertesacker fractured the bone just under his left eye, but would not require surgery. Mertesacker’s Werder Bremen side are set to take travel to Bayern Munich in one of the biggest matches of the weekend, a game they would have been depending on Mertesacker to feature in. Should the defender miss six weeks of action, he will also sit out for matches against Mainz, Hannover, Hamburg, Leverkusen, Freiburg and Gladbach.

Veteran defender Mikael Silvestre will likely fill the void left by Mertesacker, but it is unlikely that he will bring the same kind of quality or composure to the Werder Bremen back-line that Mertesacker would. Werder Bremen could face a difficult period without Mertesacker, and especially if Brazilian defender Naldo, who is also injured, takes his time getting back. We could be seeing a center-half pairing of Prodl and Silvestre. Nothing inspires confidence in that pairing. Bayern Munich will have an absolute field day against that pairing, and Werder Bremen could be looking at a very difficult period with both of their first-choice defenders on the sidelines.