“We want to be successful again”

Having failed to win any of their last four league matches, both VfB and Augsburg are eager to claim all three points when they meet at the Mercedes-Benz Arena at 20:30 CEST on Friday.

“We’re preparing ourselves for the energy, determination and strength in the tackle we’re going to need,” head coach Matarazzo said ahead of the meeting with VfB’s Swabian rivals.

“We want to be successful again and get the win tomorrow. You can feel it in every situation in training. We’ve been through a lot and invested a lot this season. We’ve worked hard for it and want to return to winning ways to reward ourselves with a worthy end to the campaign, which this team deserves.”

This may be Markus Weinzierl’s first match back at FC Augsburg but the ‘Fuggerstädter’ boss is a familiar figure in Bad Cannstatt. The 46-year-old returns to his former stomping ground on Friday evening, having been in charge of VfB during the 2018/19 season – his last role as a coach.

Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel is a doubt for the game after pulling out of training on Wednesday with a back problem. Gonzalo Castro also remains on the sidelines, but Borna Sosa has returned to training and “is an option”, according to Matarazzo.

However, VfB are still without Marcin Kaminski (quarantine), Momo Cisse (knock to the knee), Nicolas Gonzalez and Orel Mangala.