The stands were packed to the rafters at the Robert-Schlienz-Stadion on Wednesday morning as VfB Stuttgart enjoyed a public training session to kick off their preparations for the home game against Hamburger SV on Sunday 12 April (kick-off 17:30 CEST).
“It’ll be the first time that I’ll face HSV in the Bundesliga,” said Ermedin Demirovic, who was born and raised in Hamburg and came through the club’s youth academy. The forward missed the 2-1 defeat in the first half of the season due to injury.
“We’ll try to make the game go our way this time,” said the 28-year-old. “Although I obviously have a soft spot for HSV because of my past, the only thing that matters is helping VfB produce a successful performance.”
Competition for places
To that end, head coach Sebastian Hoeneß almost has a full squad available to him, leading to fierce competition for places in the starting line-up. “There’s a lot at stake for us and we know what we’re capable of,” Demirovic concluded. “With our fans behind us, we want to keep the points in Stuttgart.”