Interviews

Gross: We're hungry for return to European competition

Albion will look to close in on the European spots with a win against Burnley on Saturday.

By Charlie Hanson • 11 April 2024

By Paul Hazlewood
Pascal Gross has been involved in 84 goals (32 goals, 52 assists) in his Albion career.

Pascal Gross says Albion will push all the way in their bid to compete in European competition for a second consecutive season.

Roberto De Zerbi’s team reached the last 16 of the Europa League in their debut campaign in the tournament, with a place in continental competition next season still very much up for grabs with seven league games to play.

“We’re very hungry,” the German said. “We’re a hungry club, with hungry players and we have a hungry manager. We will push until the end, that’s for sure.

By Paul Hazlewood
The midfielder is desperate to help Albion qualify for Europe again.

“We’ve had a full week of training that we haven’t had too many of recently because of games and that will help us to recover some players and energy, and to prepare really well for the [Burnley] game.

“We’ve struggled in some games where we have the feeling we’re the better side – I can think of five or six game straight away where we’ve been the better team but we’ve struggled to score goals. But that’s the biggest challenge in football.”

Albion could move to within three points of sixth-place Manchester United with a win at Burnley on Saturday, with the Clarets impressing the Albion midfielder.

By Paul Hazlewood
The German has ten assists in the Premier League this season.

“You can see in the Chelsea game recently when they were down to ten men but drew 2-2 at Stamford Bridge that they showed great character and are improving.

“They’re playing bravely and they’re consistent, which I like, they trust in [Burnley boss Vincent] Kompany and their path. That isn’t always normal at the level we are at and I really like that.

“As a team they stick together and they believe in their qualities. You can’t get results without that.”

By Paul Hazlewood
Pascal's form for Albion was rewarded with his Germany debut earlier on this campaign.

Pascal says Albion will use their disappointing 3-0 defeat to Arsenal last weekend as motivation for their trip to Turf Moor.

“It was a tough one. Arsenal are really strong and they deserved to win the game – they were better than us on the day.

“It’s not easy as a professional athlete to admit that, but you have to recover and look forward because the game is gone. We need to learn from it and keep moving forward.”