Hoeness: "We want to show courage"

Sebastian Hoeness on…

…the personnel situation: "Ermin Bičakčić, Benjamin Hübner and Håvard Nordtveit are still out. Ihlas Bebou will not yet be available either. We'll make a late call as to whether Florian Grillitsch and Pavel Kadeřábek are ready for a place in the squad."

…the match on Friday: "There's a lot of excitement for the game. We'll be getting butterflies by the time we enter the stadium at the latest. I'm totally looking forward to it. What's better than Friday night under the floodlights? We're looking forward to the game."

…the tactical plan: "It will be about stopping Dortmund's waves. In this respect, our play with the ball will be especially important. Dortmund's aggressive pressing will of course put us under pressure. We want to show courage and will need to have good positioning in central areas."

…Erling Haaland: "He's incredible quick and dangerous in front of goal. We'll need to have a solid back line and defend with focus as a unit. He has a burning desire to score, so we need to have an even great desire to defend."

Head-to-head record:

TSG Hoffenheim are a bogey team for Borussia Dortmund. The Black & Yellows have won only one of their last seven meetings (three draws and three defeats). That said, BVB have the better overall head-to-head record with nine wins and seven defeats, while there have also been 10 draws.

The opposition's form:

The season got off to a good start for Borussia Dortmund, with Marco Rose's team first winning 3-0 away to SV Wehen Wiesbaden in the DFB-Pokal and then beating Eintracht Frankfurt 5-2 in their Bundesliga opener. But last week BVB suffered a 3-1 Supercup defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich and then lost 2-1 away to SC Freiburg in the league.

Match facts and statistics »