The whistle blows and the action on the pitch is over. We may all be social distancing right now, but the Bundesliga trainers are still giving their opinions post-match (albeit via a microphone on a very long pole!). Here are the trainer reactions from matchday 33.
Bayern Munich 3-1 Freiburg
Hansi Flick: “We wanted to be in control, create chances and put our opponents under pressure. It’s just the way we play. I’m really pleased with it. But the players share the goals around, which is why it’s working so well at the moment. It’s important to keep up our rhythm after winning the title.
“We want to use our matches for that. It worked out very well today, and we want to build on it again away to Wolfsburg.”
Christian Streich: “We gave it everything. Unfortunately, we deserved to lose today. I thought we could have got more, so we’re disappointed today. We went into the game with absolute determination to win here. Unfortunately, we weren’t assured enough in the first 25 minutes and couldn’t use the space that was available.”
RB Leipzig 0-2 Borussia Dortmund
Julian Nagelsmann: “We were so weak in the first half and didn’t press or tackle. we couldn’t get into the game and never really got on the ball. We could see that we were lethargic all over the pitch. I was pleased with the second-half performance. we played much better and were more aggressive. we would’ve deserved a point.
“We’re happy that Hertha beat Leverkusen, so we’ve almost reached the Champions League – our 26-goal advantage should be enough.”
Lucien Favre: “We played a very good game in the first half. After that, Leipzig was very dangerous. We had chances in the first half. In the end, we win 2-0 and it is not undeserved for me.”
Hoffenheim 4-0 Union Berlin
Alexander Rosen: “Participation in the Europa League cannot be rated highly enough. We’re playing internationally for the third time in four years. I’m incredibly proud of the lads. But we want to achieve even more. Our objective is sixth place. We’ll give everything for that. We need to wait and see how Andrej Kramarić coped with the exertion. You can see what incredible quality he has.”
Urs Fischer: “It’s logical that there is a certain drop-off after you confirm your place in the division, but it shouldn’t be that big. We were not consistent enough and defended poorly. We need to learn from that. We had been hoping for a different outcome.”
Fortuna Düsseldorf 1-1 Augsburg
Uwe Rösler: “Congratulations to FC Augsburg on securing their safety. We lost some confidence after their goal as well as when ours was ruled out. Augsburg ran a lot today; we were lacking some freshness. Nevertheless, we’ve improved our situation and we can show what we’re about in Berlin again.”
Heiko Herrlich: “We reached our main aim today. It was a mature performance. We had the better chances, so we deserved the point. The season isn’t over yet though. We’ve got one more game and we can climb a few places in the table with a win. The lads can rest for two days – they’ve earned it after the busy week.”
Hertha Berlin 2-0 Bayer Leverkusen
Bruno Labbadia: “I think we deserved to win. We had to change our game and did a great job. That was the key to victory. They didn’t have any real chances to score, but we had four big chances ourselves. You can only compliment the team after such a performance with so many players missing, that’s really strong from us.”
Peter Bosz: “The disappointment is very big. After a good start, we didn’t play good football after that. That’s why Hertha deserved to win. We didn’t have enough chances in the course of the game. The only thing we can do now is win the next game and then we have to wait and see what the others do.”
Mainz 3-1 Werder Bremen
Rouven Schröder: “We knew that it would all come down to it on the final matchday if we lost the game. We started a bit slowly at the beginning and Bremen started with a lot more energy. We woke up after that and took the lead with our first really dangerous chance. However, the game remained open until the end because Werder believed in themselves.
“The way we defended at the end was the real Mainz 05! It was a delight to see – I’m so proud. We had to listen to justified criticism, but you should never lose faith in this club. Because everybody who works for this club does it with 100% passion. We will analyse the season and draw the right conclusions.”
Florian Kohfeldt: “We don’t need to analyse the game too much today; it was possible for us to win here. We had chances and enough opportunities to prevent them from scoring. We didn’t manage to do that.
“We had a big chance today. We could have overtaken Düsseldorf. We didn’t manage to do that. It’s now very difficult for us to avoid relegation. But we all owe it to the club to fight until the end, as long as it is still possible.”
Schalke 1-4 VfL Wolfsburg
David Wagner: “We faced a team today who are playing at a higher level to us at the moment. They deservedly won the game. We didn’t start well, went 1-0 behind and therefore went into the break behind. We had a good period, could have equalised through Caligiuri, but then we were 4-0 down in what felt like five minutes. That showed how much attacking quality they possess.
“There were a few positives from today. Rabbi Matondo scored a really nice goal, Timo Becker played well at right back and Malick Thiaw did a good job at centre half for the final 20 minutes. Nevertheless, you can’t be happy after a 4-1 defeat. Our young team still tried to fight back despite being 4-0 down. The defeat obviously hurts. Now we need to try and take something from the game in Freiburg.”
Oliver Glasner: “I’m really pleased with how the team played today. It was a very controlled and good performance in the first half with a lot of confidence on the ball and control of the game. We kept threatening going forward and took the lead. It was really a great performance. I’m very, very happy and would like to give the team huge credit for qualifying for the Europa League with one matchday left.
“The players have put a huge amount of effort in over the season and done a great job, and I’m delighted for the players and the club that we’ve qualified for Europe for the second year in a row.”
Köln 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Markus Gisdol: “Achieving our goal of survival comes above everything, because a big weight has fallen from our shoulders. When we started in Winter, we were practically done, but we worked things out. Everyone has invested a lot, it worked, and we have a tremendous team spirit.
“Then came the Corona virus and it took away our togetherness. I believe it cost us more than any other team in the league, because we were close- in the way we played teams as a unit. We lost a lot of energy and we didn’t reach our peak again in May and June. Despite that the team remain stable.”
Adi Hütter: “It’s too bad that we missed a new club record with our fourth away win in a row. Nevertheless, I am talking about two points lost because my team was the better one and we played for victory in the second half. We’ll take the point as the performance was absolutely fine. Disappointment is the wrong word; it is a shame for a club like Eintracht Frankfurt and its fans. Of course, we wanted to keep the chance of qualifying for Europe, but we also knew about the interim results in the other places.
“Despite everything, we almost scored a goal in the second half, but unfortunately we weren’t able to take all our chances. Overall, we can be proud of the season so far. Djibi Sow has always had to take criticism in the past, that’s why I’m so pleased with the goal assist.”
Paderborn 1-3 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Steffen Baumgart: “Over 90 minutes, it is a reflection of the whole season. We had the right idea, as always, but the qualitative implementation was not always possible with us. We got the fewest points, the most goals conceded, the fewest goals scored. Then you don’t deserve to play in this league.”
Marco Rose: “It’s an important win. We took the lead early on and had chances to extend it. We knew that Paderborn would offer a threat and we perhaps didn’t control the game as much as we should have. That’s the only complaint I would have. But generally speaking, we kept them at bay, reacted brilliantly after their equaliser and got back in front straightaway.
“We’ve now reached 62 points and I think that we have shown that we want to be and stay in in the mix at the top of the table. We’re missing a couple of players, but that just means that we have to recover well this week and then give it our all once more on Saturday. Champions League qualification is in our own hands.”
