Benjamin Baier brought his trophy along to his post-match interview. The 29-year-old captain of Regionalliga side Rot-Weiss Essen was named man of the match by the viewers after the DFB-Pokal first round game against Borussia Mönchengladbach. But the award was outweighed by disappointment for Baier after his team lost 1-2 and missed out on causing a real upset in the Pokal.
Baier gave RWE the lead through a header (29’) but late goals from Jonas Hofmann (79’) and Raffael (82’) secured a second round fixture for the Bundesliga side. In an interview with DFB.de, Baier speaks about the atmosphere in the sold-out Stadion Essen, a goal-line clearance against World Cup winner Christoph Kramer as well as his future targets in the Pokal.
Q: Can you congratulate yourself for a highly commendable 79-minute performance?
Benjamin Baier: We could have made it 90 minutes. We were playing in such a huge match, but unfortunately we didn’t manage to pull it off in the end. Gladbach just have so much quality, they can turn a match on its head in seconds, and that’s what happened today. However, when I see how we got stuck in on the pitch, I take my hat off to the boys; we gave it our all out there.
Q: There was a big moment out there when you clawed Christoph Kramer’s shot back from the line. Everyone thought then that you could go through to the next round.
Baier: The belief was there from the start. It was a small moment that we used for inspiration; you can win a game like that with just pure emotions and willpower, both of which were visible on all our players’ faces and on the bench too. You really have to say the team’s performance was first-class today. That’s the level of play we have to bring to the league.
Q: In the Lower Rhein Cup derby against FC Kray on Wednesday as well?
Baier: Sure, we want to have games like today’s in the future. I think everyone in the stadium had goose bumps; the atmosphere was just sensational.
Q: Was that the best atmosphere you’ve experienced in your career?
Baier: It’s hard to say. I’ve played in a few games, and I’ve also progressed in the DFB-Pokal (Kickers Offenbach won their first-round match against Karlsruher SC in 2008 through a goal from Baier). But in recent times, today’s match sticks out; it was a crazy atmosphere.
Q: Describe the opening goal from your point of view.
Baier: I looked forward and saw Kai Pröger. He was completely unmarked, and then he took his time well and played the ball to Dennis Malura. Then I had to run up and the ball came to me on a plate. I tried to kinda jab it in, which turned out really well for me (laughs).
Q: We haven’t often seen you scoring headers.
Baier: I think I scored one against Rot Weiss Ahlen once. Not many others come to mind. Others are responsible for that. Today it went in, but I’d trade a place in the second round for that header any day.
Q: You conceded relatively late. As a viewer, you got the feeling that your team were in a fairly open formation, was that perhaps not a bit too risky?
Baier: We were trying to see the game through, which means we had to cover any gaps and cover lot of ground. Obviously, you can’t defend everything Gladbach throw at you. At the end of the day, it didn’t quite work out and the boys are disappointed but we have to take the positives from this.
Q: How difficult will the match against Kray be?
Baier: Not difficult at all. In games like that we can make what happened today possible, so we have to approach it just as seriously as any other match. We want to perform in the big games again and go through to the further rounds. I’ve come so close with RWE three times now. There won’t be any sloppy play on Wednesday - everyone in the team knows that games like that can be very challenging.
created by mmc/cg
Benjamin Baier brought his trophy along to his post-match interview. The 29-year-old captain of Regionalliga side Rot-Weiss Essen was named man of the match by the viewers after the DFB-Pokal first round game against Borussia Mönchengladbach. But the award was outweighed by disappointment for Baier after his team lost 1-2 and missed out on causing a real upset in the Pokal.
Baier gave RWE the lead through a header (29’) but late goals from Jonas Hofmann (79’) and Raffael (82’) secured a second round fixture for the Bundesliga side. In an interview with DFB.de, Baier speaks about the atmosphere in the sold-out Stadion Essen, a goal-line clearance against World Cup winner Christoph Kramer as well as his future targets in the Pokal.
Q: Can you congratulate yourself for a highly commendable 79-minute performance?
Benjamin Baier: We could have made it 90 minutes. We were playing in such a huge match, but unfortunately we didn’t manage to pull it off in the end. Gladbach just have so much quality, they can turn a match on its head in seconds, and that’s what happened today. However, when I see how we got stuck in on the pitch, I take my hat off to the boys; we gave it our all out there.
Q: There was a big moment out there when you clawed Christoph Kramer’s shot back from the line. Everyone thought then that you could go through to the next round.
Baier: The belief was there from the start. It was a small moment that we used for inspiration; you can win a game like that with just pure emotions and willpower, both of which were visible on all our players’ faces and on the bench too. You really have to say the team’s performance was first-class today. That’s the level of play we have to bring to the league.
Q: In the Lower Rhein Cup derby against FC Kray on Wednesday as well?
Baier: Sure, we want to have games like today’s in the future. I think everyone in the stadium had goose bumps; the atmosphere was just sensational.
Q: Was that the best atmosphere you’ve experienced in your career?
Baier: It’s hard to say. I’ve played in a few games, and I’ve also progressed in the DFB-Pokal (Kickers Offenbach won their first-round match against Karlsruher SC in 2008 through a goal from Baier). But in recent times, today’s match sticks out; it was a crazy atmosphere.
Q: Describe the opening goal from your point of view.
Baier: I looked forward and saw Kai Pröger. He was completely unmarked, and then he took his time well and played the ball to Dennis Malura. Then I had to run up and the ball came to me on a plate. I tried to kinda jab it in, which turned out really well for me (laughs).
Q: We haven’t often seen you scoring headers.
Baier: I think I scored one against Rot Weiss Ahlen once. Not many others come to mind. Others are responsible for that. Today it went in, but I’d trade a place in the second round for that header any day.
Q: You conceded relatively late. As a viewer, you got the feeling that your team were in a fairly open formation, was that perhaps not a bit too risky?
Baier: We were trying to see the game through, which means we had to cover any gaps and cover lot of ground. Obviously, you can’t defend everything Gladbach throw at you. At the end of the day, it didn’t quite work out and the boys are disappointed but we have to take the positives from this.
Q: How difficult will the match against Kray be?
Baier: Not difficult at all. In games like that we can make what happened today possible, so we have to approach it just as seriously as any other match. We want to perform in the big games again and go through to the further rounds. I’ve come so close with RWE three times now. There won’t be any sloppy play on Wednesday - everyone in the team knows that games like that can be very challenging.
