Matchday 20 was full of action. Borussia Dortmund moved off the bottom of the table after beating SC Freiburg 3-0, Bayern München got their first win of 2015 against VfB Stuttgart and World Champion André Schürrle made a fantastic debut in Wolfsburg’s 3-0 victory against Hoffenheim. DFB.de got the reactions from some of the players, including World Champions Mats Hummels, Roman Weidenfeller, Thomas Müller, Manuel Neuer, Benedikt Höwedes and André Schürrle.
VfL Wolfsburg 3-0 1899 Hoffenheim
André Schürrle: "I am really happy that I could immediately help the team, but I think I can do even better. I am very, very satisfied because we won the game 3-0. That’s what counts. I felt very comfortable. The team have given me an exceptional welcome and have made it very easy for me to integrate here. I immediately felt right at home. I’ve really got to make the lads a massive compliment on that."
Kevin Volland: "Two of those goals were totally avoidable. We totally slept through the first couple of minutes of the game. We had really good chances in the second half and we should have scored on those occasions. Maybe we could have had two penalties as well. I think I was clearly fouled that one time. Wolfsburg are on a really good run at the moment and we just aren’t. We need to put in some good training sessions this week and show what we’re capable of against Stuttgart. We’ve got the quality. We were clearly the better team after the break."
SC Freiburg 0-3 Borussia Dortmund
Mats Hummels: “We’ve managed to pull off wins before, even played well, but we couldn’t keep it going. Back-to-back victories is what we’re aiming for now. We really pulled out all the stops in Freiburg, at last played a really good counter-pressing game again, won a lot of balls and hardly let the opposition have any chances. When we can emulate today’s performance in future games, we’ll get more victories. A win is good but it’s not everything.“
Roman Weidenfeller: “It was a victory for the mind. We have to prove against Mainz that we’re capable of winning two games in a row. That’s the only way we can get ourselves out of the relegation tussle.”
Marcel Schmelzer: “We deserved to win. It feels good to pick up three points. We worked hard for this win. We are happy to take three points home. We had great hopes going into this match and put in a great performance. Getting an early goal was key to victory. That had been our problem against Augsburg. Had we taken an early lead in that game as well… After the goal, we kept pushing forward, but remained solid at the back. We’ll travel home happy, but next week against Mainz we have to carry on where we left off."
VfB Stuttgart 0-2 Bayern München
Thomas Müller: “Stuttgart were excellent in the first half and we had problems getting past their midfield. We didn’t have any chances in the first half until we scored. In the end, mental strength won out. We weren’t brilliant but there was one good team on the pitch. The win was mentally important but it was more vital for our position in the table.”
Matchday 20 was full of action. Borussia Dortmund moved off the bottom of the table after beating SC Freiburg 3-0, Bayern München got their first win of 2015 against VfB Stuttgart and World Champion André Schürrle made a fantastic debut in Wolfsburg’s 3-0 victory against Hoffenheim. DFB.de got the reactions from some of the players, including World Champions Mats Hummels, Roman Weidenfeller, Thomas Müller, Manuel Neuer, Benedikt Höwedes and André Schürrle.
VfL Wolfsburg 3-0 1899 Hoffenheim
André Schürrle: "I am really happy that I could immediately help the team, but I think I can do even better. I am very, very satisfied because we won the game 3-0. That’s what counts. I felt very comfortable. The team have given me an exceptional welcome and have made it very easy for me to integrate here. I immediately felt right at home. I’ve really got to make the lads a massive compliment on that."
Kevin Volland: "Two of those goals were totally avoidable. We totally slept through the first couple of minutes of the game. We had really good chances in the second half and we should have scored on those occasions. Maybe we could have had two penalties as well. I think I was clearly fouled that one time. Wolfsburg are on a really good run at the moment and we just aren’t. We need to put in some good training sessions this week and show what we’re capable of against Stuttgart. We’ve got the quality. We were clearly the better team after the break."
SC Freiburg 0-3 Borussia Dortmund
Mats Hummels: “We’ve managed to pull off wins before, even played well, but we couldn’t keep it going. Back-to-back victories is what we’re aiming for now. We really pulled out all the stops in Freiburg, at last played a really good counter-pressing game again, won a lot of balls and hardly let the opposition have any chances. When we can emulate today’s performance in future games, we’ll get more victories. A win is good but it’s not everything.“
Roman Weidenfeller: “It was a victory for the mind. We have to prove against Mainz that we’re capable of winning two games in a row. That’s the only way we can get ourselves out of the relegation tussle.”
Marcel Schmelzer: “We deserved to win. It feels good to pick up three points. We worked hard for this win. We are happy to take three points home. We had great hopes going into this match and put in a great performance. Getting an early goal was key to victory. That had been our problem against Augsburg. Had we taken an early lead in that game as well… After the goal, we kept pushing forward, but remained solid at the back. We’ll travel home happy, but next week against Mainz we have to carry on where we left off."
VfB Stuttgart 0-2 Bayern München
Thomas Müller: “Stuttgart were excellent in the first half and we had problems getting past their midfield. We didn’t have any chances in the first half until we scored. In the end, mental strength won out. We weren’t brilliant but there was one good team on the pitch. The win was mentally important but it was more vital for our position in the table.”
Manuel Neuer: “We’re very pleased that we’ve taken another step in the right direction. We weren’t very good in the first half but in the second half, we got into our passing game and got the second goal which was ultimately decisive.”
Schalke 04 1-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Benedikt Höwedes: “I’m very happy. We picked up three points at home against a direct competitor for a Champions League slot. It was a tough game. We all played well without the ball and made it difficult for them. We didn’t create too many chances, but we did enough to win the game. We’ve faced some tough teams this week and have been resolute, which is something we need to build on. We’re not necessarily putting in wonderful performances at the minute but I believe that the fans can see that our approach is successful. Providing we win games, everything is fine.”
Hamburger SV 2-1 Hannover 96
Ron-Robert Zieler: “We invested a lot in the game today and created good scoring chances but we’ve come away with nothing. Both goals were very unlucky and we had a lot of bad luck in general. But football is about results and one point from three games isn’t enough. Our style of play is good and we have to continue to work hard.“
Sources: bvb.de, fcbayern.de, schalke04.de, vfl-wolfsburg.de, vfb.de, achtzehn99.de, hannover96.de
