Asllani reveals what Hoffenheim are missing

Fisnik Asllani completed another match for Hoffenheim with great individual success. On Thursday evening, in the second round, at home against Beşiktaş, he scored a goal. It was the Kosovo striker’s first goal of the season and his first in continental competitions. In the 68th minute, he received the ball near the penalty area, made two very good individual moves and scored with an accurate shot to make it 1-1. Two quick goals from Oh Hyeon-Gyu afterwards inflicted another defeat on the well-known German team. 

The match against Beşiktaş was part of the second round of the league phase in the “Europa League”. Despite Asllani’s contribution, Hoffenheim did not get a satisfactory result. They were beaten 3-2 once again, just as they were last weekend, when Asllani provided an assist in the match against Hamburg. Asllani, who also scored in Kosovo’s most recent match against Austria, a 1-1 draw in Pristina, spoke after the match against the well-known Turkish team. He said that there are moments during matches when the team needs to be more focused. 

“It is very difficult to accept this. We had imagined things differently. We wanted to take all the points against a strong opponent. At times we defended well, but we lacked the necessary concentration at decisive moments. A lot has happened to us over the past season, but we must not give up. We have to keep going and have confidence in ourselves. We need to defend well as a team. We have very good spells in every match, but we have to be in the game for 90 minutes. I definitely believe that we should be rewarded for our efforts in the match against Borussia Mönchengladbach,” Asllani told the club’s official website. 

Asllani played the entire match against Beşiktaş. Midfielder Leon Avdullahu also completed the match. Albian Hajdari was absent due to another injury. 

Hajdari will also be out for several weeks. 

Hoffenheim aim to return to positive results this weekend, specifically on Sunday at 17:30 away to Mönchengladbach. In their first eight matches of the season, they have only two wins: one in the German Cup against Aue, and another in the Bundesliga against Stuttgart. They have suffered defeats to Cologne, Dortmund, Paderborn and Hamburg in the Bundesliga. In the Europa League, they have been beaten by Greek side Crete and Turkish side Beşiktaş.