Koln vs Hoffenheim preview - Gisdol wants Hoffenheim response

Hoffenheim coach Markus Gisdol wants his team to bounce back from their DFB-Pokal defeat to Borussia Dortmund when they travel to Cologne on Sunday, although he does not expect it to be easy.

Hoffenheim put up a brave fight in Dortmund, going down only in extra-time to see their cup dreams end at the quarter-final stage.

"Of course we were disappointed to go out of the cup," said Gisdol. "But the most important thing is that we played a good game.

"It wasn't easy for the team to come to terms with going out of the cup - we played a very good game, but weren't rewarded for it.

"But things move on now and we want to show the same engagement and deliver the same performance against Cologne as we did in Dortmund."

Cologne are "particularly strong at home" and have proven to be very hard to beat at the Mungersdorferstadion.

"They've not lost in their last six home games, even if they only won one of them," added Gisdol, who will rely on the same players he had in midweek, assuring they have "put the 120 minutes behind them well."

Yuya Osako is an option for the Cologne starting XI with coach Peter Stoger admitting he has been impressed with the Japanese forward in recent weeks.

"He's been improving greatly since the winter and is in good shape," Stoger said at a press conference. "That makes us optimistic."

Slawomir Peszko is unavailable, on the other hand, having picked up his fifth booking of the season last weekend.

Cologne will be looking for a win on Sunday at least to maintain, if not to extend a five-point advantage over the bottom three.