Grillitsch: "We'll definitely be raring to go"
Flo, it's starting up again: you'll be in action away to FC Bayern Munich on Friday. Are you looking forward to the game?
"Absolutely! It is always something special to play against Bayern – and on top of that on a Friday evening under the floodlights at a sold-out Allianz Arena. According to the weather forecast it's going to be very cold, but we'll definitely be raring to go."
The winter preparations were very short. What's your conclusion?
"We were not at all satisfied with the matches directly before Christmas and especially with the 3-3 draw against Darmstadt. With that in mind, we've worked on a number of things and meticulously focused on improving certain elements of our game since the start of training on 2 January. I personally find it a very good thing if we are and remain critical. We can never be satisfied, even if the points haul from the first half of the season to date is certainly decent. But we know that more would've been possible. And as a team, we all want to achieve even more. That's why the final few games of 2023 were still on our minds a bit, but we've now put that behind us. Our focus is clearly on what lies ahead; we want to come home from Munich with something concrete – but we of course have to put in a strong performance and get that little bit of luck on the pitch."
Bayern are the favourites on Friday. Does that perhaps even help you?
"We're not thinking about that at all. It's always very difficult in Munich – regardless of where Bayern are in the table. But we've proven in the past that we can get something in Munich. So we do not need to shy away. We will try to implement our plan in the best-possible fashion and then there could be something in it for us."