“Stuttgart are one of the top teams in the league. They play very neat football, clearly embodying their coach‘s ideas. We're expecting an exciting clash on Sunday. It will be a big challenge for both teams," emphasised Alonso at the press conference on Friday afternoon.
ALONSO ON VFB: “SOMETHING IS EMERGING THERE”
Stuttgart are currently third in the table with 30 points after 13 games – it is currently their second-best Bundesliga season ever. The attacking duo of Serhou Guirassy (16 goals) and Deniz Undav (eight goals) pose a particular threat for VfB. Alonso: "They're having a great season so far, acting with control and playing attacking football. There are some parallels with us, which is interesting to see. It's nice to see there are several teams in the Bundesliga that play football like that."
Head coach Sebastian Hoeneß‘s team is often regarded as the surprise package of the season, partly because they were in a relegation battle last term. VfB saved themselves in the relegation play-offs where they beat Hamburger SV (first leg 3-0, second leg 3-1). For Alonso, however, VfB's rise in performance is no real surprise: “Stuttgart know what they're doing. You could see it at the end of last season. They were already playing very good football. You can see that something is emerging there."
ALONSO ON WIRTZ: “WE’LL HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE”
Arthur will miss the match against Stuttgart. Alonso had the following to say about Florian Wirtz, , who suffered a painful knock to his ankle in the 3:1-win over Paderborn in the DFB Cup round-of-16 during the week: “We'll have to wait and see from day to day. It's not a serious injury, but we'll have to see if it lasts until Sunday. Even just one day can sometimes make a big difference."
On the last away trip of this calendar year, 4,000 Bayer 04 fans will once again accompany the Werkself. Without any specific questions from the media representatives, Alonso took a moment to thank the fans for their continued support: “It's really nice that there are always so many fans at the games – whether away or at home. We can really feel the enthusiasm among our fans and are extremely grateful. We want to give our best performance on Sunday and then hopefully once again celebrate our latest win together with the fans.”
