FC St. Pauli

Alexander Blessin on…

...the injury situation: "Connor Metcalfe definitely won't make it, which is a great pity, but I hope he'll be available again next week. Carlo Boukhalfa is fit again. He's trained all week and made a very good impression - as if he'd never been away. Scott Banks has a minor back problem, so we'll have to wait and see whether he can train tomorrow. David Nemeth has been ill but will probably hook up with the team tomorrow."

...the injured Elias Saad: "I called him straight after the operation, but he was still a bit dazed. He's still in pain but that's sure to get better from day to day. It's a bitter blow for Elias and for us. We obviously hope he'll be back as soon as possible but he's in capable hands with our medical department, I'm very sure of that. They'll do all they can to get him back as soon as possible and so will he, of course."

...the previous home games: "It was a very good performance against Heidenheim and at home against Leipzig it was very, very good. It wasn't good against Mainz but not bad either. We simply made two individual errors, and Mainz really made us pay. Against a team like Wolfsburg we have to avoid making simple mistakes. We need to be neat and tidy. With the fans we want to create an atmosphere like the one against Leipzig. Our supporters are a real asset. They see we give our all at home. They got behind us for the entire 90 minutes because the team gave it all they had right to the end."

...opponents Wolfsburg: "They have bags of pace and the quickest strikers in the Bundesliga along with Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich. They've scored lots of goals in transition, so for us it'll obviously be about not giving the ball away cheaply. Wolfsburg have enormous quality and not for nothing are they in second place in this category. They only need five-and-a-half attempts on goal to score. That's another quality, but they've conceded a number of goals as well, and we'll obviously be looking to hurt them there."

...the game plan: "We have to get into the tackles and keep things tight to ensure we have a good grip on the proceedings. We have to take advantage of the right moments. We had our chances at Dortmund. We have the quality, but we have to want it a little bit more. Union and Augsburg were the only two games where we didn't have many chances. We'll keep having chances if we run for each other, make the runs in behind and get people in the box. Then it'll be about making better use of them."

...homophobia in football: "I'm employed as the coach of FC St. Pauli, but it's simply an attitude I have, and I obviously lead by example in that role. It's how I was brought up and that's I bring my children up as well. So I also have clear rules as far as my team is concerned. There's obviously no place for homophobia in football. We're diverse, we want to be diverse. That's what makes this great club stand out. We're somewhat proud of that, and we stay true to this identity, that's perfectly clear."

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters