Herrmann: "It was fun despite the result"

Gladbach played well but lost 2-1 to Manchester City, and leave empty handed after the second matchday of the Champion League. Nevertheless, the performance and passion of the Fohlenelf gave the fans confidence and hope.

For large parts of the game, Borussia were the better team against the star ensemble from England. A lot of Gladbach’s good attacking play came from Patrick Herrmann, who had a good game against Manchester City. We caught up with the 24-year-old and spoke about the first Champions League game in Borussia’s history and the talking points: the penalties.

Question: Patrick Herrmann, Borussia showed a lot of passion last night and lost right at the end. How annoying is it?

Patrick Herrmann: Of course it’s very annoying. We played a great game and went forward well. Going on to lose the game in the last few minutes is hard to put into words.

Question: Is there any blame on Raffael for having missed the penalty?

Herrmann: No, absolutely not. That can happen. We had three or four other very good chances to score and conceded a penalty ourselves. It was a frustrating day.

Question: You also had a very good chance tonight that Joe Hart defended well. He played very well tonight didn’t he?

Herrmann: He made two or three very good saves, and he came out on top in the one-on-one situations, which we really should’ve scored in. If you don’t take these chances, you leave yourself open to conceding late on.

Question: It was an open game. Borussia held for a long time but after taking the lead there seemed to be a lull in Gladbach attacking play. Is that fair to say?

Herrmann: After we took the lead Manchester City had to do more. They had to be more offensive and we played on the break, but we were probably pushed too far back. Despite that, we played amazingly and it was a lot of fun.

Question: At the end, Gladbach gave away their ninth penalty of the season. Does something different need to happen in defence?

Herrmann: We were too late to react again. It has happened far too often and we need to look at ourselves and get rid of this tendency. We haven’t made it easy for ourselves, and obviously it is hard to win when you give away so many penalties.

Question: Would you say tiredness of body or tiredness of mind is more of a factor?

Herrmann: A bit of both. We must be sharper and also maybe a bit quicker.

Question: Was it the case that you lacked experience and intelligence compared to them?

Herrmann: We have a very young team. We need to learn that we shouldn’t be fazed and how to hold the ball better. Man City are not just any team though. For me, they are one of the best in Europe. It was clear with the amount of pressure they were putting on us in the closing stages of the match.

Question: How good was it for you to play in your first ever Champions League game despite the loss?

Herrmann: It was huge. I had goosebumps playing in front of so many people. It was even better than it was such an exciting game. We would’ve wanted a different result, but it was a great game and gave a good feeling. I will always remember it.

Question: Gladbach have now lost both of their Champions League games. What is the next step?

Herrmann: It’s a group of death that we were drawn in. We didn’t really know it up until now. We just need to keep going and never give in. We have shown that we can play against the best teams and we will try to win the next game.

Question: You will play against Wolfsburg on Saturday. How difficult will it be to recover and move on?

Herrmann: There is nothing else to concentrate on. We will go again on Saturday. We need to recover well and keep going.

Question: What are you hoping for against Wolfsburg?

Herrmann: Wolfsburg have a good team, and they have showed that by the fact that they are also in the Champions League. It will not be easy but we are playing at home and if we play as well as we did against Manchester City then we will have a chance.