Hummels: "We want two more trips to Berlin"

Mats Hummels was involved twice in the two minutes that decided the game as Borussia Dortmund beat Hamburger SV 3-0 at home on Sunday. Firstly, he cleaned up at the back after a mistake from Sven Bender, before then teeing up Christian Pulisic for his first Bundesliga goal, putting Borussia 1-0 up. "The game doesn't really do anything for us with regards to the DFB Cup semi-final," said the World Cup winner in an interview with DFB.de. BVB take on Hertha BSC on Wednesday at 20:30 CEST as they bid to make the final of the cup, their last remaining shot at silverware this season.

Question: Mr Hummels, how hard was it to get yourselves motivated for the relatively meaningless Bundesliga clash with Hamburger SV, sandwiched in between your devastating Europa League exit to Liverpool and Wednesday's DFB Cup semi-final?

Mats Hummels: We dominated the game from the very start. It was evenly matched at the beginning and we were somewhat unsteady, but that's understandable when you make eight changes to the line-up. I think we set ourselves up well and had a good mentality. We were also clinical in the first half – that's good to see. For that reason, we can be satisfied. We weren't at our best today, but on the whole we delivered a good, focused and solid performance.

Question: How important was the win when you look back at the game beforehand and look ahead to next week? You're taking on Hertha BSC with the aim of having another trip to Berlin at the end of the season.

Hummels: The win doesn't bring us anything with regards to last week, and the same applies looking forwards. This game is not related to our other results. If last Thursday hadn't happened, we'd still be well on course for a fantastic season. It's therefore no surprise that we want to qualify for the DFB Cup final on Wednesday. We want to win the cup as it's our last remaining chance this season. We want two more trips to Berlin this season.

Question: At least for your mentality, it must be better to go into the DFB Cup semi-final on the back of such a convincing win?

Hummels: I don't think so. I don't know how it'll affect our confidence, mentality or anything else going into the game on Wednesday.

Question: Several of your teammates have said that a lot was spoken about in the days between the Liverpool and Hamburg games. How can that help you on the way to your final aim of the season, triumph in the DFB Cup?

Hummels: We discussed what happened in Liverpool, analysed it and accepted that it was completely our own fault that we went out. That makes it hurt a bit more than it would have done otherwise, as the eleven men on the pitch screwed it up. That analysis should help us going into the DFB Cup game.