Successful test against Augsburg

Five days before the first competitive match of the new year (Saturday, 15:30 CEST against VfL Wolfsburg), TSG Hoffenheim won a friendly against Bundesliga rivals FC Augsburg. The visitors took the lead with a goal from Elvis Rexhbecaj (11). Adam Hložek had TSG's best chance in the first half, but his header was saved by Augsburg goalkeeper Finn Dahmen.

Head coach Christian Ilzer substituted the entire team at the break. TSG equalised around a quarter of an hour after the restart, with Haris Tabaković finding the back of the net from the edge of the box (74). David Mokwa missed a chance to take the lead shortly afterwards; after a strong solo run, the U23 forward was denied by the upright (82). Tabaković then slotted home a penalty in the 90th minute to put Hoffenheim ahead.

After scoring twice himself, the Bosnia international set up TSG's third goal of the afternoon when, after seizing a loose ball, he unselfishly squared for Erencan Yardimci, who celebrated a debut goal in his first appearance in a TSG shirt (100).

Christian Ilzer was satisfied with the performance: "It was a good stress test. The majority of the squad got 60 minutes of playing time under their belts. It was a focal point of training this week. The lads were very active and very committed. We missed one or two chances in the first half, but I saw a very dedicated performance in both periods. We have work to do for everything to come together, but we were able to make good use of the warm-up match."

First-half line-up: Baumann – Gendrey, Hranáč, Akpoguma, Prass – Geiger, Samassékou – Hložek, Kramarić – Orban, Moerstedt

Second-half line-up: Philipp – Kadeřábek, Drexler, Arthur Chaves (90, Erlein), Jurásek – Becker, Grillitsch (105, Behrens) – Mokwa, Micheler (90, Berisha), Yardimci – Tabaković

Goals: 0-1 Rexhbecaj (11), 1-1 Tabaković (74), 2-1 Tabaković (90/penalty), 3-1 Yardimci (100)