Hoffenheim's Leon Avdullahu: 'Top four no longer in our hands'
Leon Avdullahu has enjoyed an impressive debut campaign at Hoffenheim following his move from Basel last summer. Ahead of the final two games of the Bundesliga campaign, he sat down to discuss the UEFA Champions League qualification race, his time at the club so far and more...
Bundesliga: The 3–3 draw against VfB Stuttgart, in which you conceded a last-minute equaliser, was a setback for Hoffenheim in the race for UEFA Champions League qualification. How has the team analysed and processed the match?
Leon Avdullahu: “It’s very tough to take, it feels like a defeat. I think, until the red card, it was a very good performance - high intensity, good with and without the ball. After the red card, though, we became too careless, too defensive, and not clinical enough going forward. We didn’t make good use of our numerical advantages, and in the end we deserved to concede. We did the analysis and saw again that from around the seventh minute onwards, while it wasn’t a disaster, we should really have been 4-1 or 5-1 up and closed the game out.”
Watch: Hoffenheim 3-3 Stuttgart - highlights
Bundesliga: How do you now view the Champions League race ahead of the final two matchdays?
Avdullahu: “We know we have to win both matches. It’s no longer in our hands to secure a top-four spot, so we need to hope for results elsewhere. Our focus is simply on winning the next game and then seeing what happens.”
Bundesliga: What objectives did you have when you joined Hoffenheim last summer, a team that had narrowly avoided relegation in 2024/25?
Avdullahu: “I knew the club had a plan and wanted a fresh start with new players. My goal was to qualify for Europe with Hoffenheim. At the beginning, no one really believed me, but in the end we managed it. I sensed in the first few weeks of training that something was possible. The quality was there, and it was clear to me that with this squad we could qualify for Europe.”
Bundesliga: Why did you extend your contract early at Hoffenheim after just one year?
Avdullahu: “Because I feel very comfortable here. Hoffenheim feels like a family to me. The conditions are ideal for me to keep developing, to play in Europe next season, and to continue performing at this level.”
Bundesliga: When you joined, how much did it help to have two former teammates, Wouter Burger and Albian Hajdari, in the squad?
Avdullahu: “I’ve known Hajdari for a long time, from our youth days at Basel. We even went to school together, and our families know each other, so it’s great that he’s here. With Burger, I only played briefly - one match - before he moved on, but I followed his career. It’s nice to have familiar faces, and we all get on very well. It definitely helps. When you join a new team, you don’t know anyone, so it helped me settle in and made things much easier.”
Bundesliga: What makes Hoffenheim so compact as a team and, therefore, successful?
Avdullahu: "Our energy, and the mix of youth and experience. We get on very well off the pitch too. The new players are all very hungry - they all came in wanting to achieve something this season, and that shows on the pitch. We understand each other instinctively. We know our patterns of play, when to press and how to play. The mix is important - experienced players know when we need calm, and the younger players bring hunger, winning the ball and scoring goals. That combination defines us this season.”
Bundesliga: How do you see your role in central midfield as a deep-lying number six, and how is communication key in this position?
Avdullahu: “My role is to set the tempo. I’m responsible for deciding when we play quickly and when we slow things down. I think I’m doing that quite well now. A lot of the communication is instinctive.
"The others know when I want to speed things up or slow them down. You can feel it in the weight of a pass or the intensity. There is also communication - experienced players will tell us when to calm the game. Again, it comes back to having a good balance in the team.”
Bundesliga: Who do you look to for inspiration in your position?
Avdullahu: "My role model is Sergio Busquets. I’ve studied him closely and tried to model parts of my game on his. Granit Xhaka as well. I’ve taken his leadership and composure. On and off the pitch, he’s a leader. With the ball, Busquets is outstanding - always calm, always finding solutions under pressure. That’s what I try to learn from him.”
Bundesliga: How important is Andrej Kramarić to the team, and how important is it that he has now extended his contract in Hoffenheim?
Avdullahu: “We’re all very happy. He’s extremely important for the team—not only an outstanding player but also a great person. You need players like him to achieve big things. On the pitch, if we make mistakes, he stays calm and helps us, gives instructions, tells us what to do. He has a lot of experience, and everyone listens to him. That makes him very important for the team.”
