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Pre-Match Report

Media Round with Lars Ricken Ahead of the Bodø Match: On Opportunities and Challenges

“We clearly see our chances of getting off to an extremely strong start in the Champions League with a win against Bodø,” said Lars Ricken before departing for Norway for the second UEFA Champions League match of this season. The sporting director also spoke about the upcoming challenges, the opponent, and the team’s roster situation.

Lars Ricken on three away games in six days:
“It’s definitely a crazy week, but it’s not completely out of the ordinary. The players are used to constantly being on planes. There are no excuses. We’ll just have to deal with it. Of course, it’ll be a bit exhausting, but we have a strong support staff around the team and will go into every game fully prepared.”

… on the opponent , Bodø/Glimt:
“We’re assuming that playing against Bodø/Glimt won’t be a walk in the park—it’ll be a real challenge. The temperatures will be a bit above zero, but I’ve heard that the wind chill will be minus seven degrees. On top of that, we’ll be playing on an artificial turf field. I think the last time the players did that was back in the youth leagues. But we shouldn’t reduce Bodø/Glimt’s strengths to just the fact that they draw their home-field advantage from that. Otherwise, we should have beaten them at home in the Champions League last year. This will be a huge challenge, and we’ll have to put in a top-notch performance to come out on top against Bodø/Glimt.”

… the roster situation:
“First of all, it’s great that Julian Ryerson, as a Norwegian, is back with us. Whether he’ll be able to play remains to be seen. Nico Schlotterbeck isn’t in the lineup. This is for load management reasons. He had a long injury and came back relatively quickly—even before the international break, which we hadn’t expected. Unfortunately, he got injured again while with the national team. Now that he’s played, we just want to ease him back in a bit. But he’ll be back for the match against Union Berlin.”

… on extending Coach Niko Kovac’s contract: “It was important to
me that we send a signal of continuity in the coaching position. When we signed Niko back then, the idea was that he would restore calm with his experience and expertise. We’ve also gained mutual trust, loyalty, and discretion. We mustn’t forget that he took over the team in a very difficult situation. Fortunately, we still managed to qualify for the Champions League. Now we’re taking the next steps together and working to turn a very good team into a successful one.”
Recorded by Christina Reinke

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