NEWS
Hoffmann: Football in Hartberg is "really good fun" right now
The striker rewarded himself with a brace on his 23rd birthday. Head coach Markus Schopp saw his potential long ago.
Marco Hoffmann played a key role once again in TSV Hartberg's 3-0 home win over Altach on matchday 12 of the ADMIRAL Bundesliga, scoring a brace (to the match report >>>).
His Hartberg side have now lost just once in eleven games — against league leaders Rapid. Speaking in a "Sky" interview, the two-goal hero put the focus on the team as a whole: "We're simply putting in a great performance every week. The team is gelling better and better, and things are just clicking right now."
"I try to get into my positions in every game. As you could see in this match, my teammates are putting me in great spots," Hoffmann explained when asked why things are going so well at the moment.
"It was always clear to me"
Head coach Markus Schopp was also full of praise for his striker: "He's a hugely hungry, young player in that position — and we all know how tough it is playing up front."
Few would have expected Marco Hoffmann to lead the goalscoring charts with ten goals after twelve rounds. Schopp, however, says he always believed in his protégé's abilities: "There were so many games early on where people might have said we needed something else there. But it was always clear to me that Marco has such incredible potential."
His good form hasn't gone unnoticed outside of Hartberg either. ÖFB head coach Ralf Rangnick has placed the striker on the standby list for the upcoming ÖFB squad for the first time. Following Marco Grüll's injury, a last-minute call-up could even be on the cards.
Success through fun
Even Hoffmann himself hardly thought such a high goal tally was possible: "Of course I wouldn't have imagined scoring this many, but as I said, the way we're playing offensively right now is just fantastic. We're creating chances, we're scoring goals — not just me, but the others too. We're being set up brilliantly, and it's really good fun."
Besides his goals, the Hartberg man had another reason to celebrate. On the day he scored his ninth and tenth Bundesliga goals of the season, he also celebrated his 23rd birthday. Hoffmann: "I think we can celebrate a little bit today."
