“Special Situation”

Everything is set: Friday night, floodlight match at the Castroper Straße with at least 20,000 supporters on the terraces. VfL Bochum 1848 are hosts to Borussia Mönchengladbach tomorrow night at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion. Kick-off is at 20.30 CET. As usual, there was a press conference in the run-up to the match. This time, assistant coach Markus Gellhaus answered the journalists’ questions as head coach Thomas Reis has been tested positive for Covid-19 this Thursday morning and will therefore not be on the sideline against Gladbach.

Markus Gellhaus on…

… the personnel situation: Simon Zoller is back in team training but it’s still too early for him to be part of the matchday squad. Danny Blum will undergo further tests. Milos Pantović, Robert Tesche and Cristian Gamboa, who were tested positive for Covid-19 this week, are certain to miss out. There is still hope for Maxim Leitsch and Danilo Soares, who will undergo final tests tomorrow.

… the consequence of the personnel absences: Of course, some players are out. But we’ll still have a strong side tomorrow. I’m not worried about that. I watched a team in training this morning that is very focused and desperate to take the next step.

… Maxim Leitsch and Danilo Soares: We hope to get the go-ahead from Maxim Leitsch and Danilo Soares tomorrow. We have to wait for the final tests. The basic requirements are there, they are healthy. But of course, they were not able to take part in team training for a couple of days.

… the absence of Thomas Reis: It is indeed a special situation. The whole thing came about at very short notice. You have to be prepared for almost anything these days. We have finished our final training session and we will be coordinating everything else in the course of the day.

… the new task distribution in the coaching staff: Frank Heinemann will take over my usual duties tomorrow and will also be sitting on the bench with me. He will also be in contact with our video analyst in the stands.

… Borussia Mönchengladbach: We are awaiting an extremely strong team. It going to be a hard nut to crack. We must not let Borussia get into the game under any circumstances. They have a lot of quality, especially upfront.

… more fans allowed in the stands: I am very happy, that more fans are allowed again. We can use their support. In the last few games, you could see how important our supporters are for us. They push the team, that’s an essential part of our strength on home soil.