Hoeness: "We'll need to be fully focused"

Sebastian Hoeness on…

…the personnel situation: "Benjamin Hübner, Ermin Bičakčić, Håvard Nordtveit and Sargis Adamyan will miss out through injury, as you know. This game comes slightly too soon for Pavel Kadeřábek too. Florian Grilitsch is also suffering from thigh problems, while Ihlas Bebou is out due to his corona infection. In Robert Skov's case, we need to see whether we take him with us. He started training late on. Diadie Samassékou is building himself back up again after his corona infection; for him and Oliver Baumann's it's a case of wait and see."

…the opening competitive game: "Our friendly performances leave me feeling confident. We improved from game to game during pre-season. We're feeling excited to be re-staring. We have also analysed our first-round performances from the last two years and this time we want to get through inside 90 minutes."

…his goals in the DFB-Pokal: "We take the cup very seriously. There's just not currently much point in declaring big objectives. We'll concentrate on the task on Monday and then take it round by round. But we obviously want to achieve something."

…the opposition: "Viktoria Cologne have picked up only one point in the league to date, but it could've been four. There'll be spectators in the ground, and we'll need to be fully focused to ensure we go through to the next round. It'll be a difficult task. The 3. Liga is already under way, which means Viktoria Cologne are a little bit further along. We of course want to go through; that's our clear objective."

Head-to-head record:

The two teams are meeting in a competitive match for the first time. However, Viktoria Cologne showed during pre-season that they should not be underestimated: the men from the Cathedral City won 1-0 against Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Wednesday.

The opposition's form:

Coach Olaf Janssen's team have one point on the board in the third tier this season. Viktoria Cologne kicked off their campaign with a 2-1 away defeat to Viktoria Berlin, before drawing 1-1 with FSV Zwickau last weekend.

Match facts and statistics »