There will surely be an incredible atmosphere under the floodlights as the 05ers host the Pokal’s most successful side, FC Bayern, at a sold-out MEWA ARENA. On the pitch though, it will be a huge challenge for Bo Henriksen’s side, who are yet to win at home in the Bundesliga this season. “I’m never afraid,” emphasised Henriksen at the pre-match press conference on Tuesday. He made clear how much he was looking forward to the clash: “It’ll be a tough game for us, but it’s fantastic to have Bayern coming here.”
MAINZ HEAD COACH BO HENRIKSEN SPOKE IN HIS PRESS CONFERENCE ABOUT…
…the absence of Jonny Burkardt: “He’s obviously a very important player and we’ll miss him. We hope he'll be back in time to face Dortmund. It’s important he doesn’t return too early. This is normal in football though. We’ll have to compensate for it, and another player will get his chance. We have quite a few options in his position: Karim Onisiwo, Nelson Weiper or Armindo Sieb, who did very well after coming on against Mönchengladbach. He caused the Gladbach defence a lot of problems. Hopefully he’ll be able to do that again if he plays against Bayern tomorrow. But we have a lot of options, which is good.”
…Nadiem Amiri’s chances of playing: “We’re not taking any risks with Nadiem. He didn’t train with us on Monday, though he’ll try today. If there’s an opportunity, he’ll play. It’s important though that he’s ready to feature against Freiburg on Sunday.”
…FC Bayern: “I’m never afraid. Football should always be about having fun. The 8-1 defeat last season wasn’t an enjoyable experience, but it was maybe kind of a good thing for us, because we learnt from it and then went unbeaten in our next eleven games. Bayern are a very good team with a lot of quality. We know that, but it’s eleven versus eleven, we’re playing at home and anything is possible. We’ve got the opportunity to get a great result and we have to give it a go. I’m feeling good. We’ll give everything and throw everything at it. We don’t want to just sit back and defend. When we get a chance to, we’ll attack. If we’re 1-0 up, we’ll try to get a second goal. It’ll be a tough game for us, but it’s fantastic to have Bayern coming here.”
…the magic of the Pokal: “I love the Pokal. It’s a fantastic competition. I experienced the same thing as a player in England, when I played in the FA Cup with a third- or fourth-tier side. Drama, passion, emotion – and all in a knockout game where anything can happen. I even won the domestic cup in Denmark when I was at Midtjylland. It’s the easiest way to qualify for European football.”
…Mainz’s approach: “We want to be brave on the ball. We’ll also have to withstand the pressure from Bayern a bit, but keep the ball and press high. It’s important to have this bravery, because then anything can happen. We probably won’t have much possession, but 30 to 40 percent would be good. If you just sit back and defend against Bayern, you’re going to lose. We know that we need to attack quickly in the final third and counterattack well. We also want to play football though.”
…Paul Nebel’s development: “He’s an incredible guy and a very good person. He came in against St. Pauli and was excellent in midfield. He’s got to earn his place and impress in training. He did that and got his first start on Friday. Paul has a lot of qualities with the ball. With his movement, he can beat the opponent’s press and win the ball, but he can also make good runs into attacking areas, like for the goal against Gladbach. It was an important indicator for me that we’ve found a good player for the midfield. It was a brilliant performance. His link-up with Anthony Caci was great too.”
…possible rotation: “We’ll see tomorrow. It’s important that we’re confident in our decision. Maybe we’ll make substitutions a bit earlier, and maybe one or two players who haven’t played as much recently will get their chance to start.”