Hoffenheim boss Sebastian Hoeneß ready for Bayern Munich tilt

Hoffenheim boss Sebastian Hoeneß has a special connection to Bayern Munich, but it will not hinder his preparation ahead of his team’s big match against the Rekordmeister on Saturday.

”I was born in Munich and some of my family live there. There is therefore a relationship with the city, but also with the people that live there. I was also an FC Bayern fan as a child due to my father. That changes when you work in the industry yourself. Due to my work as a coach in the Bayern youth set-up, I have a very positive image of the club. That does not change the fact that I want to frustrate Bayern on Saturday.”

As far as the match goes, Hoeneß knows his team will be in for a battle.

“FC Bayern are doing very well. They are in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and are the undisputed leaders of the Bundesliga. Nonetheless, we have noticed in our analysis that there are gaps in the defense. That said, you need to have a top day to come away with something,” Hoeneß said (as captured by the club’s website). “I’m obviously hoping for a win for us. There’s always hope – even against Bayern. They made a statement against Salzburg. But we’ll go into it on the back of four wins and with a lot of self-belief. We’re really up for the match. If we perform with courage, we have little to lose. A triumph against Bayern would be bonus points which we didn’t factor in at the start of the season. We hope the fans will energize us once again.”

Hoeneß, however will be missing some key members of his squad entering the contest.

”Ermin Bičakčić, Robert Skov, Fisnik Asllani, Chris Richards, Håvard Nordtveit and Sebastian Rudy are again unavailable. Benjamin Hübner is not yet out of quarantine, we need to see whether he makes it for Saturday. Kevin Vogt and Dennis Geiger are other alternatives,” said Hoeneß.

Whoever dresses for Hoffenheim will have to be ready — Bayern Munich looked terrifyingly good against Red Bull Salzburg in the Champions League on Tuesday.