As in the past few weeks, Ole Werner announced that there would be a few absences in the squad ahead of the match away from home against Borussia Mönchengladbach (17/3 20:30 CET). The 34-year-old was still optimistic, however, when answering journalists’ questions on the upcoming meeting with the Foals.

Everyone in Bochum is waiting with their fingers, toes, everything really crossed for the day when...

Enrico Maaßen was forced into one change from the Augsburg team that started the game against VfL Wolfsburg last weekend. Mergim Berisha was not fit in time and was replaced by Fredrik Jensen.

“The next game is always the most important. We are in a good place right now and we want to pick up points,” explained Maaßen. The head coach will have to do without Elvis Rexhbecaj and Felix Uduokhai against Hertha, with both on the sidelines due to muscle injuries. “We have the utmost faith in the players that we currently have at our disposal. We’re not having to compromise,” said the gaffer.

This time, it was a 6-2 scoring fest against Mainz 05 that takes Bayern, however briefly, back to the top of the table. Everyone is scoring, and everyone is feeling good. Rejuvenation is in the air, just in time for World Cup season, to boot.

Similarly to the quarterfinal tie against Bayern Munich, SC will take on their Pokal opponents twice within a few days. They will face RB Leipzig at the Europa-Park Stadion on 2nd/3rd May in Pokal and will welcome Marco Rose’s side the following weekend in the Bundesliga.

Shortly before the start of the training session at Schenckendorffplatz, the boys picked up unusual equipment for the first session: A yellow pole! The players used these to stretch, to the left, to the right. After that, the squad ran some laps of the pitch at a high tempo, with the fresh breeze at the Olympiapark spurring them on. The message was clear, that despite the defeat in Dortmund they were running with the wind behind them, rather than directly into the wind. “Obviously, the result was annoying for us but we there are also some positives from the game that we can take with us – and that’s exactly what we will build on now as we prepare for Augsburg,” said Marco Richter, sketching out the direction for the next week.

Sandro Schwarz has contested a total of twelve games against FC Augsburg as a coach and a player – Frankfurt are the only team that he has also taken on this many times. But, the head coach isn’t just looking to this wealth of experience for the 13th clash; instead, the 44-year-old and his coaching team are fully focussed on the here and now. The Blue-Whites want to show determination and put in a convincing performance to pick up a crucial three points at home on Saturday (25.02.23, 15:30 CET). “We should set ourselves up for a competitive game against a well-organised and aggressive opponent. To do that, we will have to find simple solutions, play forward directly and defend aggressively ourselves,” explained Schwarz in his press conference before the game and was pleased about the support from Hertha fans. “Recently, the fans kept spurring us on sensationally. We need this atmosphere and we want to give something back to the fans for it,” underlined the head coach. herthabsc.com have summaried the key points from the head coach on…

Let’s stay up together – the TSG players need your support for the final stretch of the season: secure your tickets for the important home games against FC Schalke 04 (Matchday 27) and 1. FC Cologne (Matchday 29) now. Tickets have been on sale to members since 7 March (14:00 CET).

RBL have never lost at home against Mainz | 24 goals in six games is Leipzig’s best home return in the Bundesliga | Timo Werner has strong goal-scoring record against the Zerofivers