Rudy: "I was absolutely delighted"

The pre-season preparations are now over. How do you assess the friendly against Sevilla at the PreZero Arena?

"You could see we played well for long periods of the match. But we spent about 20 minutes chasing the ball midway through the second period. Nonetheless, I think we saw a lot of good things. Sevilla are a very strong team and we competed well. We had a lot of good goalscoring opportunities and we might've won the game ourselves."

How did it feel to be back at your former stomping ground?

"I was absolutely delighted and could hardly wait. I've received a superb welcome and had a lot of fun. I hope that there will be a lot more matches – and also victories – to come."

Just how much excitement is there ahead of the start of the Bundesliga?

"Naturally there's a lot. First of all we have a DFB Cup tie away to Würzburger Kickers to think about. Then we're off to Frankfurt and then Werder Bremen will be coming to the Arena. We have some interesting tasks ahead."

The third division season has been underway for a couple of weeks now. What awaits TSG in Würzburg?

"We'll need to analyse Würzburg properly this week. The coach will prepare us well. In any case, we must not allow ourselves to underestimate the opposition; anything is possible in the cup."