Hoeness: ''We won't underestimate our opponents''

Sebastian Hoeness on…

…Slovan Liberec: ''We'll have to wait and see what form they turn up in on the day. They defend well as a unit and look to hit teams on the break. It worked for them against Gent, while their result in Belgrade (a 5-1 loss) wasn't a fair reflection of the game. We won't underestimate our opponents. We'll see how they line up tomorrow. They've also had players hit by Coronavirus. We want to play our game out there tomorrow and we're focusing more on ourselves.''

…the personnel situation: ''Stefan Posch has suffered an ankle injury and will be out for about two weeks. Dennis Geiger broke a bone in his hand against Union Berlin. He had an operation this morning and will have to sit this one out. Things are going well for Andrej Kramarić. He will now be carefully reintegrated in the team. However, he won't be an option for Liberec. The same is true of Kasim Adams and Pavel Kadeřábek. Benjamin Hübner is also still unavailable. He's on the road to recovery, but it's still not clear when he'll be able to play again.''

…the table in Group L: ''We know the scenario in the group and we're well aware of what we can achieve with a win tomorrow. It's a very important match, and one that we absolutely want to win in order to give ourselves peace of mind for the run of games after the international break. With nine points to our name, we'd already have a foot in the knock-out round.''

Florian Grillitsch on…

…the match against Union Berlin: ''The defeat kept me awake for a few hours. We actually put in a good performance, but the result didn't reflect that. That's something we have to work on.''

…flexibility during a match: ''We always have to be flexible - both with our positions and our tactics. That's how football has evolved over the past few years. We don't want to be predictable.'' 

The opposition's form:

Liberec have started their UEFA Europa League campaign with a win and a draw. Domestically, they sit in sixth place in the Czech league after picking up ten points from their opening six matches. However, the season has been suspended since the beginning of October due to the Coronavirus. Liberec's last league match was on 4 October. 

Head-to-head record:

This will be the first time that TSG Hoffenheim and Slovan Liberec have gone head-to-head in a competitive match. However, Liberec have already faced German opposition several times in European competition. However, none of these six matches ended in a win for the Czech side (two draws, four defeats).

Match facts and statistics »