First-ever Bundesliga meeting

After four successive wins took them on the third place in the Bundesliga table, Hoffenheim take the trip to Mainz full of self-confidence. The recent run of Mainz, though, was not much worse: Despite the 3-0 defeat at Werder Bremen last weekend, the newly-promoted team is much better positioned in the table than most expected. On top of that, their home ground has turned out to be a fortress in the first three games which saw Bayer Leverkusen (2-2), Bayern München (1-2) and Hertha Berlin (1-2) fail to win there. "We will definitely not get these three points as a gift, we will have to work hard in order to win there", Hoffenheim manager Rangnick warned. "They have an excellent home record and will not park the bus. They will much more try to attack themselves and harm us with their attacks and aggressiveness."

Rangnick is forced to make changes from the side hammering Hertha Berlin last Sunday as defender Josip Simunic is sidelined with a torn muscle fibre. Skipper Per Nilsson will replace him. After having scored the last time he filled in for the Croatian international during the cup game in Nuremberg, the Swedish defender relishes the thought of winning in Mainz: "It doesn't matter who scores as long as we take the three points. It will not be an easy task as no team managed to win there so far but we would love to be the first ones to do that." After suffering from adductor problems, Andreas

Ibertsberger returns to the squad having trained fully with his team mates during the week. Because of their rehabilitation programmes after their knee injuries, Matthias Jaissle and Tobias Weis will again not make the squad. "They will slowly but surely return to the training pitch and we will closely observe how they react to the strain", manager Rangnick said about their current situation. Mainz manager Thomas Tuchel has much more injury concerns as the long-term injured Polanski, Wache, Trojan and Borja are joined by the doubtful players Karhan, Hoogland and Soto.

In Mainz, Hoffenheim will meet their former player Zsolt Löw. The Hungarian left the club after winning two promotions and the winter championship 2008 with 1899 before signing for Mainz last winter. "We regularly are in contact but we mostly talk about private things and less about football", skipper Nilsson revealed. Ralf Rangnick praises his former defender and looks forward to meeting Löw again: "Zsolt had a great time with us and still visits us every now and then. After some problems, he managed to become a regular in Mainz and I am looking forward to seeing him again." The two managers, by the way, have a common history which involves their former club SSV Ulm 1846. "Thomas was my player but he unfortunately had to retire early due to his knee problems. It did not take me by surprise that he made it into the Bundesliga as a manager. Winning the German Championship with the youth team of Mainz last year shows how much quality he has.", Rangnick said praising his colleague.

More than 2,000 supporters join Hoffenheim on their way to Mainz which means that there are no more tickets available for the game.