Maaßen: “Not look above or below us too much”

FCA will play away at Frankfurt on matchday 30

Only five games remain before the end of the 2022/23 Bundesliga season. FC Augsburg will play Eintracht Frankfurt away from home on Saturday afternoon (15:30 CEST) and have a great chance to further pull away from the places below.

“We don’t want to look too much above or below us in the table,” said FCA coach Enrico Maaßen, who would rather focus on his team’s development than looking at the results of opponents. The Függerstädter are in 13th place and still five points clear of the relegation zone, six points from automatic relegation. “We have to pick up points ourselves and have the ambition to get three points every weekend,” said Maaßen ahead of the match against Frankfurt, who are currently in ninth place.

Eintracht are without a win in eight games and therefore concerned about not qualifying for European football again. “Frankfurt are not in a good period at the moment, but they are still a team that have played in the Champions League,” explained Maaßen. In the reverse fixture, FCA took the lead after just 31 seconds through Mergim Berisha, but the guests turned the game around with goals from Sebastian Rode and Ansgar Knauff. Maaßen’s aim now is to make the good periods for them in a game “even longer.”

Dorsch to make his return to the squad

Maaßen is pleased that Niklas Dorsch will return to the squad after his nose surgery. “We know his quality. Niklas sets the pace and has the natural arrogance to always want the ball,” said the 39-year-old, promising the player at least a short stint. In addition, Kelvin Yeboah and captain Jeffrey Gouweleeuw will be available for the Fuggerstädter, the latter of whom was suspended for the 1-1 draw against VfB Stuttgart.

Apart from the long-term injured Tobias Strobl and André Hahn, Maaßen will be without Fredrik Jensen, Rafał Gikiewicz and goalscorer Berisha, who are still training individually. Iago, who suffered an injury during the last home game and will have to rest for around two weeks, will also be absent. The rest of the players, however, are fit and hungry, so Maaßen will have a number of options available both in defence and attack. FCA will be accompanied by more than 2,000 fans in Frankfurt.