Fanshop
Kramarić: "We want to convince in all competitions"
Andrej, in recent years you’ve either missed out on pre-season entirely or only been able to train individually. This time you’re fully involved. How does that feel?
"I’m happy that I’m fit and healthy right now. It’s very important for me to be with the team. I hope that remains the case. Health is the most important thing for an athlete. I’m really enjoying it at the moment."
You were only able to feature in just over half of all the matches last season and yet you still managed to score 12 goals…
"I didn’t play as much as I wanted. That said, I still amassed some scorer points and we qualified for the Europa League. With that in mind, I have to be satisfied with the season. Obviously having an operation wasn’t the perfect way to start the season. Unfortunately, I then had more problems in the second half of the season and missed several matches. I’m happy that I was able to help the team in the few matches I did play."
What are your objectives for the coming season?
"Our objective is obviously to get through the group stages of the Europa League. After that you never know what will happen. We want to finish first or second in the group. We have a very good squad and we want to convince in all three competitions."
When you arrived in Hoffenheim, TSG were in a relegation berth. But you have qualified for European competition in three of the four seasons since then. Did you expect that kind of progression?
"To begin with, I only thought about how I could help the team achieve its big objective of staying in the division. After that we played some good football and were very successful. It was a very important step for the club, but we achieved it together and we can be proud of that."
