Hoffenheim hot on the heels of Borussia Dortmund in race for Europe
Before RB Leipzig's remarkable recent rise to the top flight, Hoffenheim had emerged to test the resolve of Borussia Dortmund as serious challengers to record champions Bayern Munich.
Almost 14 years have passed since a little-known club from the Baden-Württemberg village of Sinsheim made an emphatic entrance at German football's top table, and Dortmund became one of the first big guns to discover they weren't simply there to make up the numbers.
Vedad Ibisevic scored twice in a 4-1 win which took Hoffenheim up to second, on their way to ending the first half of their first ever Bundesliga season at the very top of the pile and six points ahead of the Westphalians.
Though they eventually faded, with Ibisevic missing the entire second half of the season with a serious knee injury having struck 18 goals across the first 17 matchdays, their message was received loud and clear: Hoffenheim were here to stay.
It was largely the influence of Ralf Rangnick, the current Manchester United head coach who also instigated Leipzig's rise from obscurity to prominence, that helped Hoffenheim climb so high, and they have held their ground ever since. Under Julian Nagelsmann in 2016/17, they even broke into the top four, going one place better in 2017/18 and tasting UEFA Champions League football for the first time under the current Bayern Munich boss.
Now with Sebastian Hoeneß in the dugout, Hoffenheim are back on Dortmund's heels, out to upset a team they only lost to once in their first seven Bundesliga meetings, and whom they have beaten seven times since.
Their last win came on the final day of the 2019/20 season, with a 4-0 triumph at Signal Iduna Park sealing their return to Europe in the UEFA Europa League.
All four of those goals were scored by Andrej Kramaric, who will be considered one of, but not the only, threat to Dortmund this weekend. Under Hoeneß, Hoffenheim have been notable for their co-productivity, spreading the goals across a range of shoulders.
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Ihlas Bebou is top-scoring with seven, while Munas Dabbur has five and Kramaric has four – as many as 19-year-old revelation Georginio Rutter, who also has a couple of assists to his name in this, his breakout season in the Bundesliga.
Speaking of assists, Kramaric's goal return may seem meagre compared to previous years, but his game has transformed under Hoeneß. The Croatian forward has been shifted back a little to allow the aforementioned Bebou, Dabbur and Rutter more room at the top of the pile, and this has led to him supplying seven assists – fewer only than Bayern's Thomas Müller and Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz after 19 games of the season.
The supply of goals has also been boosted by full-back David Raum, whose five assists is the most for a full-back so far this term. Raum is all in since joining the club in the summer, and Hoffenheim already have the recently-capped Germany international dreaming big - just look at his new tattoo for evidence.
"I always mentioned in interviews towards the end of last year that I was living my dream and the dream of every boy who plays football in Germany. Everything seemed to happen within one year for me, so during the winter break I thought it would be fitting to put it on my body, too," Raum told bundesliga.com in an exclusive interview.
Raum was playing in Bundesliga 2 with Greuther Fürth just a year ago, and after promotion with the Clover Leaves, he won the UEFA U21 Euro and played in the Olympic Games before earning his first cap for Germany, which is why discussing Champions League qualification is anything but a taboo.
"We're a team that have got stronger over the course of the season and we will just keep building on this to see what will happen in the end," he said.
Heading into Saturday's clash at the PreZero Arena, Hoffenheim occupy fourth place, which would see that dream of Champions League football realised. A win would narrow the gap on their opponents to six points and consolidate their top-four position.
And just like upon their entrance in 2008, it would send out a message that Hoffenheim are again aiming high with Hoeneß.
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