Karagümrük
Trabzonspor
Club Brugge
Fiorentina
Real Madrid
Bayern München
Two old friends will face off this Saturday when Mainz play away against RB Leipzig (15:30 CEST). Marco Rose and Bo Svensson were promoted together with FSV to the Bundesliga in 2009. They both then began their coaching careers with the club’s academy and are now experienced bosses in the Bundesliga. While the Mainz coach is looking forward to seeing his old teammate, he also warned of “one of the most difficult games of the season.”
At the pre-match press conference two days before the game, Svensson spoke about the return of the players from international duty, Jonny Burkardt’s progress and Karim Onisiwo’s fitness.
Bo Svensson on:
The international break
“We used the time well. We trained and then had a few days off where the lads were given a programme to complete at home. We’ve been back on the training ground since Tuesday. We’re managing the workloads of the lads who were away, especially because they returned at different times and all played a different number of minutes too. This week is slightly different to normal, but that shouldn’t be a problem for Saturday. The important thing was that nobody got injured.”
The opponents
“I have looked at all of Marco’s games in Leipzig. The team is not just good individually, but in all regards. They lost in Dortmund recently when they were on the same points and I thought they were the better team there. They also dominated Manchester City in the second half at home. This is one of the most difficult games in the Bundesliga, regardless of their recent results. They have a lot of pace and we’ve struggled there in recent years. We can’t make their players any slower – we just have to try and influence our own game. The best way to do that is to talk about our own strengths. We won’t have a great chance of getting something if we just stand there and watch them run past us. We have lots of respect for them, but we have to focus on ourselves.”
The best way to do that is to talk about our own strengths.
Former Mainz man Marco Rose
“Marco has a lot of qualities. He’s clever, articulate and really nice, without being boring. He’s funny and charismatic, that’s how I remember him. It’s always good to be with him. We will both be trying to win the game on Saturday and will only help our own club. It will obviously be emotional at times, but we won’t let that affect our relationship.”
The six-game unbeaten run (W4, D2)
“It’s obviously helpful when you go on a run like this because it shows it’s hard to play against us. It’s also great when we can pick up points when we don’t necessarily play well. There’s no point in us turning up in Leipzig if we’re going to play like we did in the first half at Hertha or in the second half against Freiburg. We’re capable of playing well for 90 minutes and that’s our aim. We want to show what we’re good at. That’s how we judge the lads. You need to play more than 45 good minutes against top teams to get something against them.”
There’s no point in us turning up in Leipzig if we’re going to play like we did in the first half at Hertha or in the second half against Freiburg.
Karim Onisiwo after international duty with Austria
“We were always in constant contact with the Austrian football association and their medical team. Everything went exactly the way we discussed. They used him exactly in the way that they outlined to us beforehand. The situation has improved in the last ten days, but we want him to get back to 100% so it wouldn’t have made much sense to have him training yesterday. We’re talking to him every day because it’s something that can go both ways. That’s why we can’t make any kind of statement for the weekend’s game. If he isn’t at 100%, he won’t start the game.”
Leandro Barreiro after Luxembourg’s 6-0 defeat against Portugal
“Leandro is an ambitious person and is obviously disappointed. But he has an incredible mentality and he can deal with that better than almost anyone. It’s something that motivates him even more when looking ahead to what’s coming up. It takes a lot to throw him off balance.”
Leo has an incredible mentality
Jonny Burkhardt’s rehabilitation progress
“Jonny’s rehabilitation has been going really well over the past few weeks. He’s feeling less and less pain, which is positive. I still can’t say when he’ll be back in full training or available for games against, but he’s making good progress.”
A possible appearance for Nelson Weiper in the youth DFB-Pokal semi-final against Schalke 04 on Sunday morning
“Of course, Sunday’s game is an important one for the club, but the order of priority is well established. First it’s the first team, then the U19s. Nelly could definitely be involved on Sunday. We’ve discussed the situations internally, but first of all, we have to see what happens with Saturday’s game.”
Two old friends will face off this Saturday when Mainz play away against RB Leipzig (15:30 CEST). Marco Rose and Bo Svensson were promoted together with FSV to the Bundesliga in 2009. They both then began their coaching careers with the club’s academy and are now experienced bosses in the Bundesliga. While the Mainz coach is looking forward to seeing his old teammate, he also warned of “one of the most difficult games of the season.”
At the pre-match press conference two days before the game, Svensson spoke about the return of the players from international duty, Jonny Burkardt’s progress and Karim Onisiwo’s fitness.
Bo Svensson on:
The international break
“We used the time well. We trained and then had a few days off where the lads were given a programme to complete at home. We’ve been back on the training ground since Tuesday. We’re managing the workloads of the lads who were away, especially because they returned at different times and all played a different number of minutes too. This week is slightly different to normal, but that shouldn’t be a problem for Saturday. The important thing was that nobody got injured.”
The opponents
“I have looked at all of Marco’s games in Leipzig. The team is not just good individually, but in all regards. They lost in Dortmund recently when they were on the same points and I thought they were the better team there. They also dominated Manchester City in the second half at home. This is one of the most difficult games in the Bundesliga, regardless of their recent results. They have a lot of pace and we’ve struggled there in recent years. We can’t make their players any slower – we just have to try and influence our own game. The best way to do that is to talk about our own strengths. We won’t have a great chance of getting something if we just stand there and watch them run past us. We have lots of respect for them, but we have to focus on ourselves.”
The best way to do that is to talk about our own strengths.
Former Mainz man Marco Rose
“Marco has a lot of qualities. He’s clever, articulate and really nice, without being boring. He’s funny and charismatic, that’s how I remember him. It’s always good to be with him. We will both be trying to win the game on Saturday and will only help our own club. It will obviously be emotional at times, but we won’t let that affect our relationship.”
The six-game unbeaten run (W4, D2)
“It’s obviously helpful when you go on a run like this because it shows it’s hard to play against us. It’s also great when we can pick up points when we don’t necessarily play well. There’s no point in us turning up in Leipzig if we’re going to play like we did in the first half at Hertha or in the second half against Freiburg. We’re capable of playing well for 90 minutes and that’s our aim. We want to show what we’re good at. That’s how we judge the lads. You need to play more than 45 good minutes against top teams to get something against them.”
There’s no point in us turning up in Leipzig if we’re going to play like we did in the first half at Hertha or in the second half against Freiburg.
Karim Onisiwo after international duty with Austria
“We were always in constant contact with the Austrian football association and their medical team. Everything went exactly the way we discussed. They used him exactly in the way that they outlined to us beforehand. The situation has improved in the last ten days, but we want him to get back to 100% so it wouldn’t have made much sense to have him training yesterday. We’re talking to him every day because it’s something that can go both ways. That’s why we can’t make any kind of statement for the weekend’s game. If he isn’t at 100%, he won’t start the game.”
Leandro Barreiro after Luxembourg’s 6-0 defeat against Portugal
“Leandro is an ambitious person and is obviously disappointed. But he has an incredible mentality and he can deal with that better than almost anyone. It’s something that motivates him even more when looking ahead to what’s coming up. It takes a lot to throw him off balance.”
Leo has an incredible mentality
Jonny Burkhardt’s rehabilitation progress
“Jonny’s rehabilitation has been going really well over the past few weeks. He’s feeling less and less pain, which is positive. I still can’t say when he’ll be back in full training or available for games against, but he’s making good progress.”
A possible appearance for Nelson Weiper in the youth DFB-Pokal semi-final against Schalke 04 on Sunday morning
“Of course, Sunday’s game is an important one for the club, but the order of priority is well established. First it’s the first team, then the U19s. Nelly could definitely be involved on Sunday. We’ve discussed the situations internally, but first of all, we have to see what happens with Saturday’s game.”
