„Fold up the visor at the right moments“

We can be fairly certain that Fraser won’t play for us this week. However, we’re hopeful he’ll be able to play again before Christmas. Unfortunately, it’s the time of year for these kinds of injuries, and so far we haven’t been significantly affected.

Fraser is one of our key players, and he’s also very important for our defensive setup. Nevertheless, I’m convinced that we have someone in Killian Corredor who can fill his role. With Marco Richter, Yosuke Furukawa, and Luca Marseiler, we also have more than enough alternatives in the number 10 position. Therefore, things aren’t falling apart for us. It’s also clear, though, that a player like Fraser, both in terms of his footballing ability and his personality, isn’t easy to replace. Despite that, we’re determined to manage it and are therefore traveling to Freiburg with optimism.

I think it’s fantastic that so many fans are here. I already found the away support in Elversberg, in a very atmospheric stadium, to be outstanding. We’ll need that support again tomorrow evening.

We need to play a more specific style of football than in the league because their individual quality is much higher than any second-division team. We’re talking about a top-eight Bundesliga side, a team that’s also very consistent internationally. They finished fourth in the Europa League and have a strong cup history in recent years. Therefore, we need to be courageous and take our chances at the right moments. We have a parallel with our away game in Bremen last season’s cup, where we almost pulled it off. And we’re more settled now than we were a year ago. So we definitely fancy our chances and want to do everything we can to advance. But of course, we’re not the favourites.

I wouldn’t mind continuing our winning streak against Freiburg. I know a few people in Freiburg with whom I have a history. In every conversation, I got the feeling they were really keen to continue their cup run. So, we’re facing two teams that both have only one goal. There’s no point in going into a cup match just to look good. We want to choose the best possible strategy to absolutely advance to the next round.

The preparation isn’t really any different from a league match. We do have extra time in mind as an additional factor, in terms of the squad and potential substitutions. But the tactical approach and analysis are the same.

Before the DFB Cup match against Schalke, we practiced penalty shootouts. However, we had the shortest possible interval between matches this time, so we didn’t practice penalties. We do practice regularly, though, and work on having a reliable number of penalty takers. Therefore, this wouldn’t catch us unprepared at all.

For me, the DFB Cup is the best competition in Germany because there’s no „afterwards.“ You’re either through or out, and I personally love that. The cup creates stories that don’t happen in a league match. That’s what we’re hoping for on Wednesday. We want to create a mental situation where Freiburg suddenly has something to lose and can’t just continue playing calmly. Those are exactly the kinds of stories that unfold.

For a club, it’s an incredibly great way to create memorable experiences, especially in connection with the fans. These are things that last. You don’t get that very often in a league match. It’s a wonderful competition. In competitive sports, we thrive on competition because you want to compare yourself to others. In the cup, there’s this one match, and afterward, it’s clear how the competition has ended.