“Going to come up against a world-class team” | OneFootball

Dino Toppmöller and Nathaniel Brown speak about Liverpool, the personnel situation and their own ambitions for the match against LFC.

Wednesday sees Eintracht take on Liverpool FC at Deutsche Bank Park on Matchday 3 of the UEFA Champions League (21:00 CEST). At the pre-match press conference, head coach Dino Toppmöller and defender Nathaniel Brown answered questions on…

… opponents Liverpool

Dino Toppmöller: “The 2-1 defeat against Manchester United felt more like a 4-2 win for Liverpool to me. For whatever reason, they’ve been missing a bit of luck lately. They’ve been the better team in every match and had more chances. We’re going to come up against a world-class team, well aware that it does have an effect when you lose four times in a row. Liverpool are and remain the favourites.”

… Nathaniel Brown: “The anticipation is very high. Liverpool, Champions League, 9 pm – amazing!”

… the personnel situation

Dino Toppmöller: “Elias Baum and Oscar Højlund are out due to injury. Apart from that, everyone’s available. Rasmus Kristensen is someone I always want on the pitch. If he does start, he probably won’t play the whole match; if he doesn’t start, he’ll come off the bench. That much I can reveal.”

… the goalkeeper position

Dino Toppmöller: “Michael Zetterer will start in goal. We made the decision after some discussion because we feel that it’s important for Kaua Santos to take a step back. He’s had a lot thrown at him. We feel he needs the step back in order to regain that ease that makes him so good. We’ve also made this decision for Kaua. Obviously, he wasn’t thrilled at first but we have to make these difficult decisions in every position. We’ll also have conversations on Wednesday because there are more players who deserve to be in the starting line-up, but we can only pick 11.

… the state of play

Dino Toppmöller: “We have a young team who want to prove themselves. We saw against Atlético and Bayern that the opponents were a level above. I assume Liverpool will have the majority of possession. We’ll go for an approach that we feel gives us the best chance of winning.”

… the return of Hugo Ekitiké

Dino Toppmöller: “I expect Heki to start.”

Nathaniel Brown: “We’ve not had any contact. Maybe it helps that we know him and know how he moves, what he does. He’s an incredible footballer.”

… the big stars in the Liverpool team

Dino Toppmöller: “I expect that Florian Wirtz will start. He’s going to be an absolute top player for Liverpool and Germany. [Mohamed] Salah has been in the top three in the world for 10 years.”

Nathaniel Brown: “Playing against the best in the world motivates you. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s no different for me preparing for an opponent like Mo Salah than it is in the Bundesliga. Besides, I know I won’t be alone on the pitch and the boys will help me.”