It was another exciting weekend of action in the Bundesliga. Borussia Dortmund beat Paderborn 3-0 to get manager Jürgen Klopp’s farewell tour off to the best possible start. FC Bayern warmed up for the return leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Porto with a 2-0 victory over Hoffenheim, while VfL Wolfsburg drew 1-1 with Schalke. A number of Germany internationals were involved this weekend and DFB.de has collected quotes from some of them.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen 4-0 Hannover 96
Lars Bender: I’ve always said that we absolutely want to finish in a Champions League qualifying place. Gladbach have now stumbled slightly and so we had the opportunity to go level on points. That was our main aim going into the match – and irrespective of the outcome of the Gladbach game, we obviously wanted to win. Today we took a real positive step in the right direction. It’s clear that our fans are already thinking about next week. We’re going to prepare for next weekend’s clash in exactly the same way as we did for this matchday. We played some excellent football and want to emulate today’s performance in the derby against Köln.
Ron-Robert Zieler: We didn’t do enough today. Given our current situation, it’s important, first and foremost, to get the basics right – this obviously includes set-pieces. Leverkusen are a very strong footballing side but our performance today simply wasn’t good enough and we can’t afford to play like that. Our individual errors made it far too easy for Leverkusen. We need to defend better. It’s disappointing and we have to digest our performance. I don’t know whether we would have come away with anything today had we been at the top of our game because Leverkusen were a force to be reckoned with. We had to try to get a positive result. I’m obviously very disappointed straight after the game. I need to try and put today’s result to one side, but it’s not an easy thing to do as it was a very bitter defeat. We’ll keep fighting until the end and will try to collect the points we need to secure our Bundesliga status. None of us are going to give up.
VfL Wolfsburg 1-1 Schalke 04
André Schürrle: I believe that we reacted really well to the match on Thursday (4-1 loss in the Europa League against Napoli). We controlled the game right from the beginning and carved out several clear-cut chances in the second half. We were clearly superior. It was a really good game after that and it’s a shame that our performance wasn’t rewarded with all three points. We now need to continue to play as we did today because then we’ll achieve our aims.
1899 Hoffenheim 0-2 FC Bayern München
Kevin Volland: We wanted to draw them onto us, but we sat too deep - especially at the end of the first half. We sat far too deep to make an impression on the game. It was too easy for Bayern to play. We went for it a bit more in the second half, but we didn't create any clear-cut chances. It's a bit gutting given the amount of work and running we put in. We gave everything today. It’s annoying because you have to take your chances against Bayern.
Manuel Neuer: I’m doubly delighted with the win because it’ll help us put the game in Porto behind us. The important factors were a solid defensive display and creating four or five clear-cut chances. It makes us optimistic about Tuesday (return leg of the Champions League quarter-final against FC Porto).
Jerome Boateng: The most important thing for us today was that we put in a good performance. I think we played very well against a very good side and we can be satisfied with the result.
Borussia Dortmund 3-0 SC Paderborn
Erik Durm: We put in a really good performance and so the win is certainly deserved. We have to keep this up next Saturday because the places above us are still to play for.
Marcel Schmelzer: It was a very deserved victory because we carried our plan out completely today. We expected it to be a tricky task today. We remained patient, played good football and carved out chances. Going 1-0 up was the catalyst for the team and in particular, our attacking players. I'm really pleased for Henrikh Mkhitaryan that he scored. We want to give the coach a perfect send-off.
Mats Hummels: Naturally it had an influence on us – but maybe more in the way that everyone now has this one hundred percent conviction and the one hundred percent target to make sure the head coach has a befitting farewell.
Sources: bvb.de, hannover96.de, fcbayern.de, bundesliga.com
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It was another exciting weekend of action in the Bundesliga. Borussia Dortmund beat Paderborn 3-0 to get manager Jürgen Klopp’s farewell tour off to the best possible start. FC Bayern warmed up for the return leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Porto with a 2-0 victory over Hoffenheim, while VfL Wolfsburg drew 1-1 with Schalke. A number of Germany internationals were involved this weekend and DFB.de has collected quotes from some of them.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen 4-0 Hannover 96
Lars Bender: I’ve always said that we absolutely want to finish in a Champions League qualifying place. Gladbach have now stumbled slightly and so we had the opportunity to go level on points. That was our main aim going into the match – and irrespective of the outcome of the Gladbach game, we obviously wanted to win. Today we took a real positive step in the right direction. It’s clear that our fans are already thinking about next week. We’re going to prepare for next weekend’s clash in exactly the same way as we did for this matchday. We played some excellent football and want to emulate today’s performance in the derby against Köln.
Ron-Robert Zieler: We didn’t do enough today. Given our current situation, it’s important, first and foremost, to get the basics right – this obviously includes set-pieces. Leverkusen are a very strong footballing side but our performance today simply wasn’t good enough and we can’t afford to play like that. Our individual errors made it far too easy for Leverkusen. We need to defend better. It’s disappointing and we have to digest our performance. I don’t know whether we would have come away with anything today had we been at the top of our game because Leverkusen were a force to be reckoned with. We had to try to get a positive result. I’m obviously very disappointed straight after the game. I need to try and put today’s result to one side, but it’s not an easy thing to do as it was a very bitter defeat. We’ll keep fighting until the end and will try to collect the points we need to secure our Bundesliga status. None of us are going to give up.
VfL Wolfsburg 1-1 Schalke 04
André Schürrle: I believe that we reacted really well to the match on Thursday (4-1 loss in the Europa League against Napoli). We controlled the game right from the beginning and carved out several clear-cut chances in the second half. We were clearly superior. It was a really good game after that and it’s a shame that our performance wasn’t rewarded with all three points. We now need to continue to play as we did today because then we’ll achieve our aims.
1899 Hoffenheim 0-2 FC Bayern München
Kevin Volland: We wanted to draw them onto us, but we sat too deep - especially at the end of the first half. We sat far too deep to make an impression on the game. It was too easy for Bayern to play. We went for it a bit more in the second half, but we didn't create any clear-cut chances. It's a bit gutting given the amount of work and running we put in. We gave everything today. It’s annoying because you have to take your chances against Bayern.
Manuel Neuer: I’m doubly delighted with the win because it’ll help us put the game in Porto behind us. The important factors were a solid defensive display and creating four or five clear-cut chances. It makes us optimistic about Tuesday (return leg of the Champions League quarter-final against FC Porto).
Jerome Boateng: The most important thing for us today was that we put in a good performance. I think we played very well against a very good side and we can be satisfied with the result.
Borussia Dortmund 3-0 SC Paderborn
Erik Durm: We put in a really good performance and so the win is certainly deserved. We have to keep this up next Saturday because the places above us are still to play for.
Marcel Schmelzer: It was a very deserved victory because we carried our plan out completely today. We expected it to be a tricky task today. We remained patient, played good football and carved out chances. Going 1-0 up was the catalyst for the team and in particular, our attacking players. I'm really pleased for Henrikh Mkhitaryan that he scored. We want to give the coach a perfect send-off.
Mats Hummels: Naturally it had an influence on us – but maybe more in the way that everyone now has this one hundred percent conviction and the one hundred percent target to make sure the head coach has a befitting farewell.
Sources: bvb.de, hannover96.de, fcbayern.de, bundesliga.com
