Grischa Prömel: “We made a relatively decent start to the game but then the distances became too big and we could no longer get into the challenges. The pitch became too big and Eintracht have brutal quality up top. They have top players there, it’s crazy. Nonetheless, we can defend better than that, that’s why we conceded three goals. We started the season off with a victory last week; we’re a team and we want to function at the weekend. We need to stick to our guns.”
Andrej Kramarić: “Something was missing, Frankfurt deserved to win. It’s the same story for us in Frankfurt every season. We had a good feeling after pulling the goal back, but then immediately let in a goal that was too easy. We then had no energy left to change anything again. I am of course delighted about my goal, but I would be more delighted if others scored the goals and we won the match. Now we’re playing against one of the best teams in the world after the international break. But we need to believe in ourselves, then anything is possible.”
Anton Stach: “We didn’t have the control that we wanted to have. Frankfurt have super individual players in attack. We allowed them into one-on-one situations too often. They had space in front themselves too often, then it gets difficult. It’s extremely bitter that we immediately conceded the goal for 3-1. We came out well after half-time. We will work on ourselves after the international break and then we want to perform better.”
Kevin Akpoguma: “Our plan actually worked pretty well at the beginning. The first 20 minutes were decent, Frankfurt weren’t dangerous either. The goal for 1-0 was a killer. They have such good individual players with so much quality up top. We learned that the hard way today and need to do better in the future. We need to defend better and have more courage ourselves. The situation leading up to the goal for 1-0 is of course bitter; if the pass comes through, we’re through on goal. Tim Drexler already had a yellow and then couldn’t commit a foul. It’s just bitter. After the goal for 2-1, we paid the price again.”
Pellegrino Matarazzo: “We wanted to offer Eintracht Frankfurt little space and chose a compact formation. We then managed that well up until the first goal we conceded. The 1-0 really hurt us and then we lost our way, the second goal we conceded was too easy too. We were more committed in the second half, but all things considered it was a deserved defeat.”
Dino Toppmöller (Eintracht Frankfurt coach): “We set out to play a good game and to get the crowd on board from the start. Despite the high temperatures, the lads did very well. The fact we took the lead through a counter-attack really helped us. We also performed very well defensively. We exploited our switch-play moments impressively in the first half. It was then frustrating to concede the goal in the second half. The goal from Omar Marmoush then helped us to get the match back under control.”