"Can nevertheless be proud of what has been achieved".

he big dream of the cup final in Berlin was shattered and at the same time applauded by the 57,000 spectators in the sold-out Volksparkstadion for the performance achieved: The Rothosen were beaten 3-1 by SC Freiburg in the DFB Pokal semi-final on Tuesday evening, but were still able to leave the field with their heads held high. The fifth-placed team in the Bundesliga was the more composed and fortunate team in the first half, taking a somewhat flattering 3-0 lead through goals from Petersen (11th), Höfler (17th) and Grifo (35th, penalty). The Rothosen remained true to their style of play despite the clear deficit, played courageously forward in the second half and were on an equal footing. The 1:3 goal by Glazel (88th) came too late to make the cup match in the Volksparkstadion a really exciting affair. Quotes from the game.

Daniel Heuer Fernandes: After 35 minutes it's 0:3 here, so of course it's going to be brutally difficult. At that stage, we failed to keep the game open against a very experienced opponent and to make a real cup fight out of it. But we never stopped playing football and creating chances. Unfortunately, the final goal came so late, otherwise more might have been possible. Of course it's very bitter this way, but we can still be proud of ourselves and what we have achieved.

"The more efficient team won the game" Tim Walter

Tim Walter: You could see today that the more efficient team won the game. In the beginning, we had really good scoring chances through Anssi and Bobby. We should have rewarded ourselves. Then we went behind with the first standard situation. A carelessness in the build-up to the game put us 0:2 behind. And then there's a very questionable penalty in my opinion. You go into half-time 0:3 down and don't know why. We persevered and continued to be brave. We wanted to decide the second half in our favour, but unfortunately we rewarded ourselves a bit too late. If the goal had come earlier, it might have been close again. We never gave up. That has been our hallmark all season. We wish SC every success - especially for the final.

Christian Streich: HSV play extremely courageously, they vary their play well with many position changes. If you go all out, you'll end up in chaos. The boys did that very well in the first half. We won the ball really well. That's how we scored a goal. In the second half, it was difficult because HSV kept on playing and did it mercilessly. We had to survive one or two dangerous situations. In the end, it was not an undeserved victory, but HSV demanded everything from us. I wish HSV good luck in playing in the first division again soon.