Fortuna Düsseldorf have risen from bottom of the table to 11th place in recent months. In his press conference ahead of Saturday’s home match against Friedhelm Funkel’s side (kick-off 15:30 CET), VfL head coach Bruno Labbadia answered questions on…
…the personnel situation: “Felix Klaus and Renato Steffen have both been feeling unwell this week. Felix was back in full training yesterday but Renato is a bit worse and has only been able to train on his own thus far. We’ll have to see how he reacts to that. William was taken off during yesterday as a precaution because he had a bit of a muscle problem, but I expect him to be fit. Apart from Ignacio Camacho and Daniel Ginczek, everyone else is available.”
…opponents Fortuna Düsseldorf: “We’re up against a very good side, who are in good form and have made strong progress overall. Fortuna won 4-0 at Schalke and also played well against Frankfurt last time out, even if the result doesn’t reflect that. We know we need to be at our best on Saturday. I really hope the fans in the stadium get fully behind the team, as they have done all season. The team need it.”
…Düsseldorf’s strengths: “They’ve really grown together – even more than before. They had a great spell before the winter break when, like us, they won three games out of three, which moved them away from the bottom and gave them confidence. They play as a team, they also have good individual players and are very strong in transition. They’re throwing all those things into the mix at the moment, so we’ll need a top performance.”
…the 3-0 win in the reverse fixture and Fortuna’s progress since then: “They’re certainly a different team now. They’ve achieved a turnaround through good results. There’s nothing like wins to lift your confidence. Our form was also up and down at that time and we picked up an important win with a very disciplined, well-organised performance. And the games only get more important from here on in.”
