The Champions League winner is even at risk of missing out on the Bundesliga play-offs.
National table tennis player Patrick Franziska is struggling with his club 1. FC Saarbrücken‘s bad start to the season. “We are of course aware that it is not enough for us as it is. We have to make sure that we get back on the road to success as quickly as possible,” said the eleventh in the world rankings, who is eighth in the table with the Champions League winners after five games only has two wins, in an interview on the Bundesliga TTBL homepage.
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Saarbrücken’s weakness at home is particularly noticeable; so far all three matches have been lost in front of their own audience. “Since I came to Saarbrücken in 2016, we have always been distinguished by our strength at home,” said five-time European team champion Franziska, “which is why these home defeats are unusual for us. We don’t know why things are different right now, and we really hope so that it remains an exception.”
For the Saarlanders, even participation in the play-offs could be in danger. Patrick Franziska, who recently won bronze in mixed doubles at the European Championships in Linz together with young star Annett Kaufmann, also knows this. In the singles he failed in the quarterfinals against his national team colleague Dimitrij Ovtcharov.
“We still have strong opponents in front of us, and we have already seen that it is really difficult against any opponent,” said the 32-year-old. “For us that means that we are not driving ourselves crazy yet, but many have been We have to get points to still have a chance of making the play-offs.”
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Saarbrücken’s next chance to improve their record comes next Monday (7 p.m.) on matchday 6 at BV Borussia 09 Dortmund.
