Pellegrino Matarazzo on…
…the match on Thursday: “There is still great excitement. We can continue to look forward to it and to see it as a special match. A very good team awaits us. It definitely won’t be easy, but we’ll go into the game aiming to get something. It will be a very different game to the St. Pauli one. Lyon can press high but also sit deep. Their strengths lie in their attacking play. They regularly keep their opponents busy in the final third, plus they have a strong counter-attacking game. There are many good players, but Malick Fofana in particular is enormously dangerous. We must defend actively and be compact.”
…the defeat against St. Pauli: “We did not implement what we set out to do. There were similar problems to the game before against Nürnberg. As soon as St. Pauli sat deeper, we had no speed in our build-up play. Our play in the box was not sharp enough, we made many wrong decisions. It was a frustrating match, but we have to come to terms with it.”
…the lessons from the defeat: “We want to do it differently to our last matches. It starts with the defence. The passing routes to the frontline must not be too long. We need to put the opponents under pressure and work on our decision-making. We know what we can do better.”
…possible rotation: “We of course already have an eye on the match in Augsburg too. The Bundesliga is the most important thing for us, but we won’t give up in any competition. We want to get something against Lyon. I’m very confident that we’ll get on track in the Bundesliga. We will stabilise in terms of our number of points.”
…TSG defender Stanley Nsoki: “He is a top talent, that’s always been clear. Stanley is focused on what he can do. We communicate often. Physical freshness is an important element of his play. He’s currently on an outstanding path and I’m looking forward to his next steps.”
The personnel situation:
Tim Drexler has been ill the last two days; it is a case of waiting and seeing whether he can play. Otherwise, there is no news regarding the injury absentees.
The opposition’s form:
After 10 rounds of matches in the French league, Lyon occupy sixth spot. They have 15 points on the board, meaning they are already 11 points behind league leaders PSG. Coach Pierre Sage’s team have six points from their three Europa League games to date.
Head-to-head record:
The two clubs already went head-to-head in the 2018/19 Champions League campaign. There was a spectacular 3-3 draw in Sinsheim and a no less exciting 2-2 draw in Lyon.
Match facts and statistics »
