Adi Hütter on...
...who will take over as captain: “There won’t be a definite decision regarding the captaincy until the summer. We’ll look at the situation in peace and quiet in the next few weeks. In Hasebe, Rode, Trapp and Hinteregger, we have several candidates for the role.”
...personnel: “Martin Hinteregger suffered a dead leg against Schalke. He’s doing all he can to be available again tomorrow. Sebastian Rode is unlikely to be involved.”
...playing in Freiburg: “We want to claim our fifth straight league win tomorrow, but Freiburg are in very good form and could be described as the ‘team of the hour’. I’m expecting it to be a fierce battle in Breisgau. It’ll be an interesting game in which both teams cover a lot of ground and neither side will give the other an inch.”
They’ll certainly be able to gel together very well, and would be a top-class strike partnership in the Bundesliga.
Head coach Adi Hütter on Jovic and Silva
...Luka Jovic and André Silva: “Luka has shown in a short space of time that he’s a top-quality striker. We’ll have to wait and see if they start together, or if we alternate between the two of them. They’ll certainly be able to gel together very well, and would be a top-class strike partnership in the Bundesliga.”
...Makoto Hasebe: “On Monday we all congratulated him on his 37th birthday. Makoto is like a fine wine: the older the better. He’s an absolutely top-quality player, I can only take my hat off to him. When the time comes, we’ll sit down together to discuss his contractual situation.”
..the risk of becoming over-confident: “You can’t generate a sense of euphoria in the team overnight, and we’ve worked hard to generate this self-belief. I don’t want to dampen the mood, but I’ll observe how everyone behaves. Our concentration and professionalism must remain at 100 per cent.
