“The spirit was right” | OneFootball

Board member for sport Markus Krösche, head coach Albert Riera and Mario Götze with the reaction the 3-2 defeat at Borussia Dortmund.

Board member for sport Markus Krösche: “It’s a needless defeat because we did really well in the first half and had a good start with the goal. Then we conceded another quickfire double, which has been a theme all season. That was followed by the goal to make it 3-1 after the break. At that point Dortmund were the dominant team. We could’ve got a point at the end, though. The spirit was right.”

Head coach Albert Riera:  “In many aspects, it was the best since I’ve been here. But we came here for the points and without points we can’t reach our target. We talked a lot this week about three solutions. The first was: the experienced players should step up and support the younger players. Second, being a team. We were a team today, we were fighting for each other. The third was being compact, attacking together and defending together. We did all that and this is the base. Time is the key of everything in life. I feel happy for my team. Dortmund were more effective. We knew that 40 percent of all Dortmund’s goals start from the right. We conceded one cross from [Julian] Ryerson and it was one goal. We were talking about this all week and we did quite well. Maybe we could’ve been more aggressive with the two goals before half-time. This is part of football.” 

Mario Götze: “In the end, Borussia Dortmund had the quality in the crucial moments. It hurts us, especially having led 1-0. At the end of the day, you have to defend well for 90 minutes in Dortmund, close the spaces and pay attention until the last minute. After our goal, Dortmund were always going to come at us, they were more aggressive and had opportunities. The timing of the two goals before the break was obviously not in our favour – after that it’s very hard here. We’ll wait and see what happens at the weekend now, then concentrate on Stuttgart, which is a hugely important game for us at home. We have to throw everything at it and know that we must get the three points. That’s all that matters.”