Emmanuel Thomas, DPA, Sunday, June 4, 2023
STUTTGART – VfB Stuttgart coach Sebastian Hoeneß said the 3-0 win against SV Hamburg in the first leg of the Bundesliga relegation play-off should be seen as a first step and warned that the job is not done yet.
“We have reached a milestone and gained a good starting position. Now we have to take the second step,” he told a news conference on Sunday.
“We have to be extremely concentrated, focused and mentally at full strength. We expect Hamburg to give everything in their home game,” he added.
Stuttgart finished 16th in the Bundesliga, but to remain in the top tier competition, they need to defeat Hamburg, who finished third in the second league, in the play-offs.
For the second leg at Hamburg, Stuttgart starter keeper Fabian Bredlow won’t be available after also missing the first game due to a knee injury. Like in the first leg, he will be replaced by Florian Müller, Hoeneß said.
Hamburg coach Tim Walter, meanwhile, stressed his team has enough quality to fight for a comeback.
“We start at -3, but we want to work our way forward bit by bit. First we want to score a goal to give all the fans a lift,” he said.
He recalled a match against Heidenheim in February, in which Hamburg turned a three-goal deficit into a 3-3 draw.
“We have proven our comeback qualities many times – and we want to show them tomorrow as well. With our fans in the wonderful Volkspark, anything is possible,” he said.
