… the derby-characteristics of the game: Every Borussia fan and every Borussia player sees FC Köln as the biggest rivals in the region. The game against Fortuna is more like a local derby, without being disrespectful. We will come up against a team that have played well this season, above most people’s expectations. Nevertheless for me, the real derby is against Köln. … the 10,000 travelling Borussia fans: It’s certainly down to the fact that the clubs are quite close to each other. It will be like a home game for us, as the cities are only 35km apart from each other. Our aim is to win the game, regardless of how many fans are there. We want to play well. … Fortuna Düsseldorf: I found our game against them earlier on this season not bad. It took us some time to get into the game. Fortuna have played above everyone’s expectations: they’ve been very stable and are very together. They have got that from Friedhelm Funkel. Hats off to the work they have done. If they manage to steer clear of relegation before the end of the season, it will be like a trophy to them. In their last two games however, they have shown their limitations. … Fortuna’s style of play: I don’t think Friedhelm Funkel will make any significant tactical changes for this game. We expect them to play very compact, defend from high up the pitch and be very aggressive on and off the ball. They will go forward quickly after winning the ball back. In their game against Schalke, they nicked the ball four or five times and scored on the counter. … Gladbach’s style of play: We don’t have to change much. We want to play good football attacking football and make an influence on the game. We have done this for 26 games so far this season and so we will not make any wholesale changes for the game in Düsseldorf. We know what we are good at and we will stick to it. … Thorgan Hazard: Thorgan has taken strides forward this season compared to past seasons. That makes me very happy. He has helped us a lot this season and has been involved in 19 goals so far, which is a very good number. However, he could have a few more as he has missed two penalties this season. Nevertheless, Thorgan has played well this season even though he hasn’t scored since the winter break. I hope he can score some more goals in the last eight games.
