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Werder Deny Diego Olympic Dream

Werder Bremen have blocked Brazilian playmaker Diego from participating in this summer’s Olympic games.

The Werder midfielder becomes the latest big name to be told to forget about the Beijing Olympics after Mark van Bommel, Lucio and Martin Demichelis were barred from representing their countries in the summer games by Bayern Munich. "

With due respect, this is the Olympic Games and for a footballer, the World Cup is the largest competition where they can measure themselves with the best" Bremen manager Klaus Allofs told the Weser Kurier newspaper.

"He belongs to the 'A' team and, in my eyes, that is not a team for the Olympics."

The Olympic football tournament would see Diego miss the first two rounds of the Bundesliga season and deny him a proper summer break.

Bremen will not face any sanctions through their actions as Diego is an over-age player. "We will work on having him available to us," added Allofs.

"We know that by not releasing him, we are not at risk of any sanctions."

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