Bundesliga on Friday

Sinsheim (dpa) – Steffen Baumgart is currently being celebrated at 1. FC Cologne. At TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, on the other hand, his colleague Sebastian Hoeneß has a hard time getting his professionals on track.

Before the Bundesliga game between the two clubs on Friday (8.30 p.m. / DAZN) in Sinsheim, the mood could hardly be more different.

Hoeneß calls for more “sharpness” and “hardness”

Hoeneß is becoming increasingly impatient with his professionals, who only have eight points and two wins in the first seven games and some have delivered really bad halftime. The 39-year-old calls for more “sharpness” and “hardness” against Cologne. He doesn’t want to see a bloodless appearance like the last one in the 1: 3 in Stuttgart or at home against Mainz: “The basic virtues of football will be the basis against Cologne.”

On the other hand, the sixth in the table from the Rhineland, who has been unbeaten in five games, has a successful start to the season with twelve points. Baumgart brought 1. FC Köln, which was still considered a problem last season, to new life.

Baumgart is celebrated as the “Klopp von Köln”

Only five months after the class was only secured in the relegation, the club is being traded as a contender for a European Cup place – and the soccer teacher is even referred to in the media as “Klopp von Köln”. His flat cap, which the 49-year-old Baumgart wears every game since the first preparation game against Fortuna Köln, has long since become a best seller.

However, Hoffenheim has recently celebrated six wins in a row against Cologne – and with the 6-0 on March 31, 2018, their highest success in the upper house to date. A TSG professional was particularly accurate last season: Andrej Kramaric contributed five goals to the 3-2 and 3-0 win against FC. This time the Croat can again hope for the help of his neighbor Christoph Baumgartner, who is so important for Hoffenheim; the Austrian was last injured.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211014-99-599343 / 4