Borussia Mönchengladbach's Lars Stindl praises Adi Hütter, targets European football
Lars Stindl is optimistic Adi Hütter can bring European football back to Borussia Mönchengladbach after the Foals narrowly missed out on a place in the top seven last season.
Despite reaching the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds for the first time in their history - coming through a group containing Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk - Gladbach fell short a point short in their bid to secure a third successive campaign of continental football via their domestic finish.
Marco Rose has since left the club for Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund, with Hütter coming in from Eintracht Frankfurt. Although Gladbach are winless in two pre-season matches under the Austrian, Stindl has been impressed with the club's new head coach.
"He's a good communicator and an open guy, who listens carefully to the team and talks to players individually and in a group," Stindl told kicker.
"It's clear he comes from the same Red Bull school of coaches like Marco Rose before him. Aggressive play against the ball in certain areas, high pressing - but composure in other situations. Not just a quick ball to the attack.
"That mix is really important, but we won't fully see what he's about until the players involved at the Euros return and we can work together with the complete team."
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After Bayern Munich, Dortmund and Gladbach were the best represented Bundesliga clubs at UEFA Euro 2020, with 10 players apiece. The likes of Nico Elvedi, Breel Embolo, Yann Sommer, Denis Zakaria - who helped Switzerland reach the quarter-finals of a Euros for the first time - are due back in training later in July.
Friendlies with Metz (24 July), Bayern (28 July) and Groningen (31 July) proceed Borussia's competitive opener against Kaiserslautern in the DFB Cup first round (6 August). Then it's down to business in the Bundesliga with a Matchday 1 meeting at home to the record champions (13 August).
For Stindl, who produced a team-leading 14 goals and 10 assists last season, Dortmund and RB Leipzig are the biggest threat to Bayern's nine-year reign as German football's No.1.
Watch: All Lars Stindl's Bundesliga goals in 2020/21
"Those two teams will make it as tough as they can for them," commented the 32-year-old, before elaborating on Gladbach's main objective for the 2021/22 campaign.
"We want to be back in Europe - but I'm optimistic. If you look at the names in the dressing room, we've got no reason to hide. There are a lot of evenly matches teams in the running. It's about being consistent."
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