Leon Goretzka was praised for his performance at the weekend against Bayer Leverkusen, as he led counterattacks and didn’t stop running - his team had to give that little bit extra after Naldo was sent off in just the fourth minute. However, Goretzka and his Royal Blue teammates weren’t rewarded for their efforts, as Stefan Kießling headed in the winner for the visitors with a minute left of the 90 to play.
In this interview with DFB.de, Goretzka shares his thoughts on the bitter defeat, the amazing spirit his team showed, some contentious refereeing decisions and his 2016.
DFB.de: Leon Goretzka, you and your teammates put in a great performance against Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend, but how hard is it to take that you conceded so late on?
Leon Goretzka: It’s unbelievable bitter. You run more for the whole game and it really hurts when you don’t take anything from the game. Everyone in the stadium saw how great the atmosphere was, the fans pushed us forwards and we reacted to it. Our fans saw that we gave everything to take at least a point. If we could have executed one or two counters better, we could have even took all three points.
DFB.de: The moments leading to the free kick from which Leverkusen scored are very controversial. Thilo Kehrer was deemed to have fouled Hakan Calhanoglu and even got a yellow for it, how did you see it?
Goretzka: I was standing directly next to it, from my point of view it’s clearly the wrong decision. Thilo touched only the ball and then possibly the opponent after, but you can see clearly in what direction the ball goes after he went in. I can’t understand how you can give that as a free kick.
DFB.de: After Naldo was sent off, your team are to be admired for their effort. How much did the red card push you all?
Goretzka: First we had to just think about how it felt to know that after three minutes, we had to play almost the whole game with a man less, but then we did that amazingly over almost 90 minutes. Everyone fought for one another, even Thilo, who I’d like to highlight again, as he was making just his first Bundesliga start. He did incredibly well and it felt like he won every tackle. It is then a huge shame when you're not rewarded for it.
DFB.de: Is it noticeable in the final stages of the match that you lose energy more quickly after playing with ten men for so long?
Goretzka: When you arrange players at a set-piece, it has nothing to do with how much energy you have – it’s just about being man on man. We can only blame ourselves for letting the opposition's best header of a ball have a free header.
DFB.de: Schalke have now suffered three defeats in a week. How will that affect the team?
Goretzka: You’ll see that in the coming weeks, but we haven’t played badly – that’s the most important thing. We started both of the games against top teams with an early set-back, it would be nice to start a game and go 15 minutes without incidents like these, then everything looks different. I'm quite sure we would have beaten Leverkusen with eleven men.
DFB.de: What are your goals for the two final games of the year against SC Freiburg and Hamburger SV? To get the six points and get within touching distance of the European places?
Goretzka: Yes, that’s it. We want to get two wins from the next two games, even if we know that it will be extremely tough. We wanted to do this against Leverkusen but it didn’t work out, no we’ll have to try again next week.
DFB.de: How do you feel looking back on 2016 and your injury set-backs?
Goretzka: For me, the discussion of my injuries has been too much. When you look at my statistics you see that apart from my shoulder injury, not too much has thrown me off course. Last year in the first half of the season for example, I had the most appearances of anyone, then in the second part of the season my shoulder injury threw me off a little. Now I feel totally fit and haven’t had any pain for weeks. I'm happy I was able to improve my performances with game time.
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Leon Goretzka was praised for his performance at the weekend against Bayer Leverkusen, as he led counterattacks and didn’t stop running - his team had to give that little bit extra after Naldo was sent off in just the fourth minute. However, Goretzka and his Royal Blue teammates weren’t rewarded for their efforts, as Stefan Kießling headed in the winner for the visitors with a minute left of the 90 to play.
In this interview with DFB.de, Goretzka shares his thoughts on the bitter defeat, the amazing spirit his team showed, some contentious refereeing decisions and his 2016.
DFB.de: Leon Goretzka, you and your teammates put in a great performance against Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend, but how hard is it to take that you conceded so late on?
Leon Goretzka: It’s unbelievable bitter. You run more for the whole game and it really hurts when you don’t take anything from the game. Everyone in the stadium saw how great the atmosphere was, the fans pushed us forwards and we reacted to it. Our fans saw that we gave everything to take at least a point. If we could have executed one or two counters better, we could have even took all three points.
DFB.de: The moments leading to the free kick from which Leverkusen scored are very controversial. Thilo Kehrer was deemed to have fouled Hakan Calhanoglu and even got a yellow for it, how did you see it?
Goretzka: I was standing directly next to it, from my point of view it’s clearly the wrong decision. Thilo touched only the ball and then possibly the opponent after, but you can see clearly in what direction the ball goes after he went in. I can’t understand how you can give that as a free kick.
DFB.de: After Naldo was sent off, your team are to be admired for their effort. How much did the red card push you all?
Goretzka: First we had to just think about how it felt to know that after three minutes, we had to play almost the whole game with a man less, but then we did that amazingly over almost 90 minutes. Everyone fought for one another, even Thilo, who I’d like to highlight again, as he was making just his first Bundesliga start. He did incredibly well and it felt like he won every tackle. It is then a huge shame when you're not rewarded for it.
DFB.de: Is it noticeable in the final stages of the match that you lose energy more quickly after playing with ten men for so long?
Goretzka: When you arrange players at a set-piece, it has nothing to do with how much energy you have – it’s just about being man on man. We can only blame ourselves for letting the opposition's best header of a ball have a free header.
DFB.de: Schalke have now suffered three defeats in a week. How will that affect the team?
Goretzka: You’ll see that in the coming weeks, but we haven’t played badly – that’s the most important thing. We started both of the games against top teams with an early set-back, it would be nice to start a game and go 15 minutes without incidents like these, then everything looks different. I'm quite sure we would have beaten Leverkusen with eleven men.
DFB.de: What are your goals for the two final games of the year against SC Freiburg and Hamburger SV? To get the six points and get within touching distance of the European places?
Goretzka: Yes, that’s it. We want to get two wins from the next two games, even if we know that it will be extremely tough. We wanted to do this against Leverkusen but it didn’t work out, no we’ll have to try again next week.
DFB.de: How do you feel looking back on 2016 and your injury set-backs?
Goretzka: For me, the discussion of my injuries has been too much. When you look at my statistics you see that apart from my shoulder injury, not too much has thrown me off course. Last year in the first half of the season for example, I had the most appearances of anyone, then in the second part of the season my shoulder injury threw me off a little. Now I feel totally fit and haven’t had any pain for weeks. I'm happy I was able to improve my performances with game time.
