Behind twice, and two equalisers. SV Werder Bremen will be satisfied to take a point home with them after a 2-2 draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Here are Ole Werner and the players’ reactions to the match.

Bochum are only one victory away from staying in the league. Of course, every single player as well as the head coach are highly motivated. On Sunday afternoon (kick-off 15:30 CET) VfL welcome FC Augsburg to the Vonovia Ruhrstadion. Ahead of the game against the side from the ‘Fuggerstadt’, head coach Thomas Reis answered the journalists’ questions.

All tickets for the game on matchday 23 are already sold out, which FCA head coach Enrico Maaßen appreciates: “We are very happy to play in front of a sold-out crowd. You could already see in the last few games how this can inspire our team.” Augsburg have won all three home games in 2023, all 1-0, against TSG Hoffenheim, Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach, and now the aim is to build on this record.

With 24 points, FCA are still in 13th place, their upcoming opponents from Bremen have six points more and sit in ninth place. The first encounter earlier in the season in September ended in a narrow 1-0 victory to Augsburg, with Rafał Gikiewicz saving a penalty in injury time. To pick up points once again, Maaßen is hoping for concentration and passion in his team’s performance, “we have to play our game and we need a top performance.”

Concerningly, De Ligt’s injury seems to have come without any contact and off the ball, but it very well could’ve been the result of contact and trauma that had built up over the course of the first half. He had just used the VAR check opportunity to receive treatment and he was replaced by Benjamin Pavard to start the second half as Noussair Mazraoui stayed at right back and Pavard played at center back alongside Dayot Upamecano.

‘Is it fate?’, was the question on the lips of the Hertha fans present at training on Wednesday afternoon, with the weather taking a turn for the better after the first win of the year with the sunny shining, while training session in the last week took place under grey skies and accompanied by rain. It was no coincidence, however, that the mood among the squad was clearly much better. “It was an enormous weight off our shoulders that we finally won again. We were all really pleased and happy that we have finally turned a page,” said Florian Niederlechner, representative of the whole team.

With memories of last weekend’s 4-1 home win against Borussia Mönchengladbach still fresh in their minds, our Herthaner head to face the ‘other’ Borussia in Dortmund on Sunday (19/02/23, 17:30 CET). “The win was good for us, and the atmosphere was great. However, ever since our preparations began on Wednesday, we have been fully focused on the task that lies ahead of us,” head coach Sandro Schwarz said during today’s pre-match press conference. Ahead of Sunday’s trip to the league’s third-placed side, the coach spoke about his formation, the approach and working on set pieces to the journalists at the Olympiastadion. Herthabsc.de have summed up all the key quotes from today. Hear from the 44-year-old about…

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Head coach Marco Rose, Janis Blaswich and Emil Forsberg on the defeat against Mainz 05

Eight sessions in the bag 

Porto is home for Diogo Leite. He made his first steps in football in Matosinhos, a suburb of Porto. At Leixoes SC, Leite was there only until his eighth birthday before one of Portugal’s biggest clubs made their move. Other than a stint at Padroense at U17 level, Leite was part of the FC Porto setup all the way through. Leite went on to win the U17 European Championships with Portugal and scored in penalties against Spain in the final.