FC St. Pauli

Alexaner Blessin on...

…the injuries to Manolis Saliakas and Morgan Guilavogui: "Both are a blow. It was clear Manos would be out for a while, but we had some hope for Morgan because he was simply in good nick. It's a chance for other players to slot into the team and perform. We have a deep squad for that, after all. You can't replace Morgan one for one. We have to find other solutions and approaches and I'm confident we'll find them on Sunday. We've done well in recent weeks when certain players have been sidelined. We've been able to replace them because the performances of the lads who've come in have been good for the most part."

...the candidates for the Guilavogui position: "I'm spoilt for choice. In Elias Saad, Oladapo Afolayan and Scott Banks we have several candidates who are all in good nick."

...the personnel situation in general: "Siebe Van der Heyden is ready. We still have a few things to talk about and go over with him using video footage, regardless of whether he starts or comes on from the bench. Lars Ritzka is available in theory. It's worked OK twice but only for 45 minutes, which was sub-optimal. We'll have to wait and see how he responds to training today and tomorrow. In a game like this you have to be at your best, that's really important. To go into the game at 90 per cent makes no sense. Connor Metcalfe is on the right track but the game comes around a touch too early for him."

...going to Leipzig a second time: "It's going to be tough game. We know what quality they have and we have to do our homework, but we also know they haven't been getting the results in recent weeks. They're still fourth, though, and they'll want to be there at the end of the season, too. We can't afford to concede as easily as we did in the DFB Cup, when we gifted them two goals. We have to be wide awake from the start. We're up against a lot of pace and creativity. We can give them space in certain areas, but we have to keep them away from anywhere it could hurt."

...the three-game unbeaten run: "It gives you a good feeling. We go into the game full of confidence and the lads deserve the attention on account of their performances in the last three games. We'll take the positive momentum with us, but in the knowledge that Leipzig, with all due respect to the last three clubs, are a Champions League team with lots of individual quality. We have to take another step to keep our run going. That's the objective."

Photo: Witters