FC St. Pauli

Alexander Blessin on…

...changes to the starting lineup: "There's the saying 'Never change a winning team' and I do think the lads deserve to run out in that formation again. It was a good performance against Kiel, so there aren't many reasons to change something."

...opponents Bayer Leverkusen: "There's not a lot you can take from the cup game against Bayern after the red card [for Manuel Neuer], so we've been focusing on previous matches. They're simply a very good team with bags of quality. They had a few problems at the start of the season but they're back on track on again. They have absolute individual quality. The whole team is just brilliantly set up and they always enjoy their football."

...previous meetings with top sides: "We know it's a tough ask, but we haven't played badly against the top teams. We're not frightened, and the Kiel game was another boost to our confidence. We can go into the game without any undue pressure. We won't be handing out any presents and we'll push them all the way, though we'll need a dream of a day to get something."

...stand-out performer Florian Wirtz: "You'll never keep him quiet for 90 minutes. We have to tread on his toes and stay close to him to make life as difficult as possible for him. We have to create an overload. That harbours a certain risk of opening up space in other positions, so we'll have to find a balance."

...Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso: "He's doing an outstanding job. He guided his team out of the nether regions of the table in his first year and then won the double – all due respect to him for that. He's benefiting from the fact that he had an incredible reputation as a player and has gained a wealth of experience from lots of coaches. He's making such good use of that. Good players don't necessarily make good coaches, but he's made it."

...our own approach: "Leverkusen always have good moments in possession and their gegenpressing is really good as well. It's going to be tough to find moments and points where we can hurt them. We've seen one or two points where we might find a way in. I hope things work as well as they did in training today. We'll  benefit from having spells on the ball and we'll need them every so often as well. We have to be brave without walking straight into a trap."

...the remaining fixtures against Leverkusen, Bremen and Stuttgart: "If it were Christmas, I'd wish for nine points. Three or four points are realistic, and it would be nice to have them under the tree. We'll do our utmost to get them. They're illustrious names and good teams. Everyone can be beaten, though, as we've seen this season. We need to perform well in all three games, starting with Leverkusen."

Photos: Witters