Head coach Niko Kovac on…
… Schalke’s role as favourites: “We’re underdogs, there’s no denying it. We’re playing away from home against the second-placed team in the Bundesliga, who also won the derby [against local rivals Borussia Dortmund] on Sunday. The situation is similar to last year, when no-one gave us a chance against Borussia Mönchengladbach. We ended up going to Berlin, so we need to approach this game in the same way.”
… the atmosphere in the Eagles camp: “The boys are in fine fettle - you can feel the positivity in training. They’re all raring to go and we head into tomorrow’s game full of excitement. We know we can achieve something very special for the club. We also know what a nice feeling it is to make it to Berlin, but we need to work very hard to get there.”
… personnel: “We still have one more training session to come, but everyone is available as things stand. Marius Wolf, Jetro Willems and Sébastien Haller were all carrying knocks but are fit again now. Luka Jovic was able to train without pain yesterday and is available for tomorrow. Omar Mascarell will undergo a fitness test today, it remains to be seen whether he’ll be involved. Ante Rebic is definitely out - tomorrow’s game comes too soon for him, unfortunately.”
… Eintracht’s defensive vulnerability away from home: “We were near perfect away from home during the first half of the campaign, but we’ve failed to reach those levels lately. We need to reduce the number of mistakes because the tie has to be decided on the night - there’s no return leg. I don’t care how we win the match, we just want to get to the final. That’s all that matters.”
… the possibility of a penalty shootout: “We haven’t been practicing spot-kicks - we didn’t last year either. Three of our ties went to penalties last season and we won every time. I’ve always said it’s impossible to replicate the pressure of a penalty shootout. The players always practice their shooting after training anyway.”
