Ilzer: "We have to make the best of it"

TSG Hoffenheim are away to Belgian record champions RSC Anderlecht in the final match of the UEFA Europa League league phase. Prior to the game on Thursday (21:00 CET / Live Ticker at tsg-hoffenheim.de), head coach Christian Ilzer spoke about the minimal chance of progression, the opposition and the squad. Meanwhile, Adam Hložek spoke about his current form and the table situation.

Christian Ilzer on…

…the table situation: "We haven't packed our calculators. I received a WhatsApp message today with all the eventualities of how we could go through. But ultimately, I'm only interested in the most important thing – namely a win for us. We don't have to do any maths for now; we just have to concentrate on producing our best-possible performance on the pitch. The probability is not particularly high, but there have been bigger surprises in football."

…RSC Anderlecht: "They are performing very well in the Europa League and have every chance of qualifying directly for the round of 16. They're very strong and have quality players in every position."

…the squad: "In total, we're without 13 players due to injury, while Gift Orban and Erencan Yardimci are not eligible to play. That's an injury list that I've not experienced before in my coaching career. If there's a positive to take from it, it's that it leaves the opposition a bit in the dark. But we have to make the best of it; we're away to a tradition-steeped club and want to put in a very good performance in front of a fantastic crowd."

Adam Hložek on…

…the match: "It's a big game for us, we need to give our best and present ourselves in the best-possible light on this stage."

…his form: "I hope that it will still be my season. I feel very comfortable in the team, we're currently playing significantly better than a month ago. I hope that we can now pick up more victories and that I can help with that."

…the table situation: "We all know where we are in the table. We'll have to play our best game."

The opposition's form:

RSC Anderlecht have won their last two league matches as well as the first leg in the cup semi-finals. In the UEFA Europa League, the team suffered their first defeat of the campaign in the competition when they slipped to a (2-0) loss away to Viktoria Plzeň last week.