Following a below-par 2022-23 campaign in which they narrowly avoided relegation from the Bundesliga, finishing just three points above the drop zone, Hoffenheim boss Pellegrino Matarazzo is tasked with building a squad capable of challenging for the European places in 2023-24.
Die Kraichgauer begun their pre-season in Germany, with a 3-1 away win over fourth-tier side Astoria Walldorf followed by a 2-1 defeat to second-tier team SV Elversberg.
Hoffenheim have since stepped up their preparations during a week-long training camp in Austria where they had mixed success on the pitch, with a 2-1 loss to French club Strasbourg followed by a 4-2 win against Eredivisie champions Feyenoord last Saturday.
Matarazzo took plenty of positives from the training camp and victory over Feyenoord, with Pavel Kaderabek, Andrej Kramaric, Jacob Bruun Larsen and Angelo Stiller all on the scoresheet against the Dutch outfit in a game which consisted of four halves of 30 minutes.
After facing Rangers for the first time on Saturday, Hoffenheim will travel to Craven Cottage to take on Fulham in their final warm-up match before preparing for their first competitive game of the new season against VfB Lubeck in the first round of the DFB-Pokal on August 14.
After watching their bitter Glaswegian rivals Celtic celebrate winning the domestic treble last season, Rangers boss Michael Beale has overseen a busy summer transfer window, with eight new signings made at the time of writing, and more expected to arrive, as well as 10 players departing the club.
Beale believes that a first-team refresh is required as the Gers seek to close the gap to Celtic on the domestic front and improve their fortunes in Europe following a disastrous Champions League group-stage campaign in 2022-23, losing all six matches by an aggregate score of 22-2.
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Rangers are sure to have one eye on their Champions League third qualifying round tie against either Servette or Genk next month, as well as their Scottish Premiership opener with Kilmarnock four days earlier, but they will first endeavour to bounce back from a 3-1 friendly loss at home to Olympiacos on Wednesday when they take on Hoffenheim this weekend.
A deflected strike from Kostas Fortounis opened the scoring for Olympiacos on the stroke of half time before captain James Tavernier restored parity from the penalty spot six minutes after the break. However, the Greek side regained the lead just five minutes later through Joao Carvalho before the Portuguese playmaker added a third 20 minutes from time to seal the victory.
Rangers had previously won two and lost one of their opening three pre-season matches, with 2-0 and 2-1 wins over Hallescher and Hamburger SV respectively taking place either side of a 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle United in Allan McGregor’s testimonial.
