"We have respect for the competition and the opposition, but at the same time we're fully focused on progressing," stressed Hjulmand, whose team will be supported by 1,500 Bayer 04 fans in Paderborn, during his lunchtime press conference on Tuesday. The 53-year-old also had this to say about the side from East Westphalia, who are on a run of six consecutive league wins and currently sit in second place in the second tier: "We fully respect them. They have a very good team and have been doing a good job for years. Both in terms of training players and developing young coaches."
Hjulmand: "Very good options" - Vázquez suspended
When asked about Ezequiel Fernández's recent absence for several weeks (knee ligament injury), Hjulmand explained: "That is of course a setback for the team and for him. But our focus is on the players who are fit to play. And in addition to Aleix Garcia and Robert Andrich, we have very good options with Ibo (Maza, ed.), Jonas (Hofmann) and also Malik (Tillman) when he' gets back. We also have Jeremiah and Naba Mensah from the U19s."
The aforementioned Tillman "will be back soon. It will be tight for Munich, maybe against Benfica," was Hjulmand's assessment. Nathan Tella and Lucas Vázquez will also miss out. The latter was shown a red card in the Spanish Copa del Rey final last season and handed a two-game suspension. As the veteran only joined Leverkusen after the Werkself's first-round clash in Grossaspach (4-0), the game in Paderborn will be the first of two in the DFB Pokal that Vázquez will be unable to play in.
Praise for returnee Schick: "Worked very hard"
In contrast, there is good news up front: Alongside U20 World Cup returnee Alejo Sarco, Patrik Schick is once again an option, as he proved in his brief appearance last Sunday against SC Freiburg (2-0). "Patrik worked very hard on his comeback. And he has also taken further steps in the last few days," praised Hjulmand. However, the coach left the question of whether the Czechia striker might make the starting XI: "I'm not going to publicly reveal who will or won't play the day before the game. We have very good options up front with Chris (Christian Kofane, Ed.), Patrik, Alejo and also Martin (Terrier)."
Hjulmand was also tight-lipped on the question of who will play between the posts against Paderborn: "Mark (Flekken, Ed.) is our clear number one, he has our full confidence. But the same definitely applies to Janis (Blaswich) and Lombo (Niklas Lomb). They're all working incredibly well. You'll see who plays tomorrow at six o'clock in Paderborn."
