“Good performance from back to front”

After the victory over Newcastle, sporting director Sebastian Kehl and players Julian Brandt, Niclas Füllkrug, Salih Özcan, Karim Adeyemi, Nico Schlotterbeck and Felix Nmecha spoke to the media. The match reactions.

Sebastian Kehl: “That was the right response. We started the game well and were alert. We put in a really good performance, picked up a deserved victory and took a big step forward.”

Julian Brandt: “We had a thoroughly good performance from back to front. For Fülle it was important to score, for us it was important that his goal opened the door. Salih Özcan was very dogged and determined in the challenges. I could say something positive about everyone. I’m glad we didn’t fall into a hole that could have spoiled the season for us a lot. After almost everyone had written us off for the round of 16 after the loss in Paris, things are looking good now. I already said after the Milan game: the group is wild. And it’s not over yet.”

Salih Özcan: “We were aggressive, we were completely in the game, we played into the spaces well and wanted to keep the centre compact. We managed that rather well too. It was an important game, the points have done us good and things are looking good in the table at the moment. But we have to keep picking up points if we want to progress to the round of 16.”

Karim Adeyemi: “That was a good response to the weekend, where nothing was good. We need that aggression and that desire to win the game at all costs. Today was much, much better and we deserved to win. It gives us a lot of courage for the next game in Milan. If we win that, we’re as good as through.”

Nico Schlotterbeck: “We’ve played two good games against Newcastle and kept three clean sheets in this difficult group. That feels very good at the moment. We were compact again, it was cohesive again, we hardly gave anything away except for Joelinton’s header. The holding midfielders cleared a lot away. The big constant at the club is the fans. It was a brutal setback on Saturday, but they enjoyed being there again today. They support us. Now we’ll go to Milan and try to win there as well.”

Niclas Füllkrug: “The first challenges were on our side and as a result we started the game very well, showed a high degree of intensity in the counter-press and used the decisive situations in our favour. We’re going in a positive direction. That was a great reaction after Saturday. We have put ourselves in a great position thanks to hard work and now have it in our own hands.”

Felix Nmecha: “It was a great game from us. We were mostly in control. We had to battle in the second half. We did that too. And so it was deserved today. We had the desire to do better than against Bayern. You could sense everyone was behind us. That gives you an extra boost.”
Transcribed by Boris Rupert