“Build on Wednesday’s result”

Matchday 27 sees RB Leipzig travel to the capital city to play Hertha BSC on Saturday at 18:30 CEST.

Our head coach Marco Rose spoke to the media on Good Friday. Topics included squad news, the win over BVB in the DFB-Pokal and what to expect from opponents Hertha BSC.

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We have summarised the most important quotes from the pre-match press conference. 

Squad news

• Christopher Nkunku completed parts of training with the team on Thursday and will be involved in the final training session before #BSCRBL. However, the Hertha game will more than likely come too soon for our attacker.
   
• Yussuf Poulsen will also most likely miss the game due to muscular problems. 
   
• Konrad Laimer, who picked up a knock on international duty with Austria, had to come off with muscular problems against Dortmund. His availability for Saturday will depend on how he feels during the final training session on Friday afternoon.
   
• Read our full squad update for details on other players, including Xaver Schlager and Peter Gulacsi.
   

MARCO ROSE on…

…the squad:

• “We would like to have the same squad available to us from the Pokal quarterfinal. It’s unlikely that anybody will return. We would have liked to have Yussi back, but this match will most likely come too soon for him.”
   

… Christo Nkunku’s return:

• “He’s not trained enough with the team to feature. He only completed parts of training yesterday and will be involved today. To be honest, that’s not enough to be fit to play.

  We’ll just have to wait and see after training today. The lads always want to play, but I believe Christo knows his body well and can make the right decision. It’s likely that he won’t be ready for Hertha.”
   

…Dani Olmo:

• “Dani is on his way back from injury, that much is clear. He returned to us tired after playing 70 minutes for Spain, came off the bench against Mainz and then played 70 minutes against Dortmund. We can’t overdo things with him.

  We will chat to a few of the lads today to see how they feel. We have to be careful with Dani, that’s for sure.”

MARCO ROSE on…

…Konni Laimer:

• “We will see how he is today. We got an initial all-clear, there is no muscle injury. 

  He picked up a knock on international duty and felt something against Dortmund, which is why he had to come off with muscular problems. His availability in Berlin is dependent on how the final training session goes.

…the win over BORUSSIA DORTMUND:

• “We won an important game, it was a great night and we all enjoyed it. Dortmund have been in great form in recent weeks and months and we thoroughly deserved the win. It was great for us.

  Nevertheless, we will treat it like any other game by building on the positives and analysing things that weren’t so good against them. I once again want to reiterate that we won’t lose control of things during a bad period. We know what the cause is for it.

  We don’t now suddenly feel like we’ve just won the World Cup. It was an important game, but we’re back in Bundesliga action now.

  It’s matchday 27, we know what the table looks like. We know we desperately need the points. We need to build on Wednesday night’s result and use this momentum.

  We knew before the Dortmund game that we were capable of doing what we needed to to win the game. Tomorrow’s match in Berlin, however, will be a totally different match and everyone needs to be aware of that.”

…the upcoming game against Hertha BSC:

• “Hertha will try to be really solid at the back. They are currently using a five-man defence and have been really compact, including recently in Freiburg (1-1). 

  We will need to be patient. We will possibly lose the ball at times and get frustrated. We need to have a different mindset for this match. There may well not be as many pressing situations as against Dortmund, and we won’t win the ball so high up the pitch so often.

  They know how strong we are and won’t let us play our own game. They have two physical centre-forwards and potentially lots of pace too, depending on who plays for them. It will be a totally different challenge to the BVB one.

  Nonetheless, we want to play our own game and get the three points of course. 

   

…Sandro Schwarz:

• “If I’m being honest, Sandro’s current situation is obviously on my mind, but it won’t be important for me tomorrow. We are best friends and really close. We love seeing each other have success.

  We’ve both got a job to do tomorrow. We are both preparing our own teams accordingly and are desperate to get the win. We obviously do care about how the other is doing, though.

…other results this weekend:

• “We will only be focusing on ourselves. Our job is to get the result against Hertha BSC. I will make sure the lads know that.

  We can’t be surprised when the game starts going differently to the BVB one.”
   

…Rouven Schröder’s first week:

• “Despite his injury (torn achilles tendon), Rouven has been really involved so far. I’ve seen a lot of him during his first week. I like him a lot, he’s full of energy. He provided good energy before the Dortmund game too. 
   

…Easter weekend:

• “I’ll still find time to hide some eggs despite the Bundesliga action. My daugther is waiting for her Easter presents. We will find the time for our family, that’s important and how it should be.

  We still have to do our job during the Easter period though. I would like to wish everyone a happy Easter!”