FIRST TEAM
01/18/2022

Hoeness: "It'll be a great cup battle"

Baden rivals TSG Hoffenheim and SC Freiburg will meet in the DFB-Pokal round of 16 on Wednesday evening (20:45 CET). TSG will be aiming to reach the quarter-finals of the competition for the first time since 2015. At the pre-match press conference, head coach Sebastian Hoeness spoke about the personnel situation, Freiburg and a possible penalty shootout.

Sebastian Hoeness on…

…the personnel situation: "Ermin Bičakčić, Marco John, Pavel Kadeřábek, Mijat Gaćinović will be unavailable and Diadie Samassékou is at the Africa Cup of Nations. Sargis Adamyan, Fisnik Asllani and Florian Grillitsch are doubtful. In their case, we need to see whether tomorrow is possible."

…the opposition: "They won't accept another performance like the one in Dortmund on Friday. We therefore have to be prepared for a very aggressive Freiburg who will look to surge forward. We will need to give everything."

…the match on Wednesday: "It's a meeting of equals, so I'm expecting a tight game. We'll have to be able to defend both in a footballing and a physical sense. But we also want to give them something to think about in defence and attack with courage. Both teams play a very offensive style; it'll be a great cup battle and we're looking forward to it. We want to progress to the next round and really pull something off in the cup."

…a possible penalty shootout: "We haven't yet practiced for it. Naturally, Oliver Baumann will be feeling good because he has had a very good record recently and also saved a penalty in Freiburg. But our objective is to decide the match inside 90 minutes."

Head-to-head record:

There has been one previous meeting between TSG Hoffenheim and SC Freiburg in the DFB-Pokal. Freiburg ran out 3-1 winners in 2008, and also have the superior head-to-head record in the league with seven wins versus six defeats (plus 10 draws). However, TSG won 2-1 in Freiburg in the first half-season (11 December).

The opposition:

Sixth-placed Freiburg are having an excellent season but their form has slightly tailed off recently. Coach Christian Streich's charges have won only two of their last nine matches. Since the winter break, the men from Breisgau have lost 5-1 away to Borussia Dortmund and drawn 2-2 with Arminia Bielefeld.

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