Marco Richter had to miss the friendly in Nuremberg (2-1) due to a shin injury, but now he’s fit and has been training with the team as normal. The 22-year-old discusses pre-season and the first opponents of the coming season in an interview with FCA TV.

Last season, FC Augsburg secured their place in the Bundesliga with one game to spare, but Richter has no satisfaction looking back on it. “Last season and finishing 15th can’t be what we aspire to. We’re motivated to do things better this season, and, most importantly, we have to look to the future now. We have to move on from last season and concentrate on starting the next.” Richter says that the team want to make their mark from the off this season and show that FC Augsburg is a stable Bundesliga club.

The squad’s preparations for the coming season are running at full speed. “We’re giving it our all in every training session and friendly. I think we’re going in the right direction, even if not everything is perfect.” Richter is particularly pleased with the signings of Daniel Caligiuri, Tobias Strobl and Rafał Gikiewicz. “They’re three cool guys who give it their all and want to show what they can do.” For Richter, that’s exactly the right attitude for the next few days and friendlies in order to be as ready as possible for the season.

Richter: “Of course I want to register more goals and assists than I did last season”

Richter also wants to up his game in the coming season on a personal level. “Of course I want to register more goals and assists that I did last season. But also as a club we want to climb up the table by one or two places. I think, both personally and as a club, the most important thing is to concentrate on the simple things. Everything else will take care of itself.”

The home-grown talent hopes to be able to play in front of fans again soon at the WWK Arena. “It’s extremely important for us to have our fans behind us,” says Richter. In the case that football continues without fans for the foreseeable future, he promises that the team will do everything to make the fans happy in front of the TV. “We want to get as many points as we can so that everything goes as well as possible.”

Richter: "We can't shy away"

The first matches of a new season are always particularly important. For Richter, the Pokal is a chance to show what he can do in the first game of the season and secure passage to the next round. “It’s so important to start well. Two years ago, we saw how great it was to keep progressing in the tournament. We obviously want to repeat that.” Last season, FC Augsburg lost in the first round of the Pokal to SC Verl. “Last year was a one-off that can’t happen again and won’t happen again. We’ll do everything to get to the next round. That’s our first and most important aim.”

The team also wants to start with a win in the Bundesliga against 1. FC Union Berlin, in a match that is set to be a great battle.  “That will be a crazy game, but we’ll do everything to pick up the three points. Even though the match is still a while away, we’re preparing for it well. We know how difficult it is in Berlin – last year we didn’t pick up a single point there. We have to get our own back and we want the three points, there’s no two ways about it. Then we face a couple of really tricky opponents, but we can’t shy away from that.” The Augsburg attacker is clearly looking forward to the start of the new season.

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