"Massive game with the wrong outcome".

When referee Daniel Siebert blew the final whistle at 3.27 pm on Sunday (27 February) for the hard-fought and maximally intense Nordderby, the HSV professionals sank to the ground disappointed. Their great fight had not been rewarded, and the bottom line was an unfortunate 2:3 defeat, which was especially apparent in the first half. A controversial referee decision and strong Bremen players posed great challenges for the Rothosen professionals, which they managed much better in the second half. In the end, however, despite a lot of heart and passion, it was not enough to win the point, so that the comments on the game were correspondingly mixed.

Robert Glatzel:  The result is annoying, we would have deserved a point. We had a lot of 50:50 decisions that went against us today, but we fought until the last second. First we get this penalty, which is not a penalty, and then our 1:1 is also whistled back. There's a slight contact by me, but that's not a foul, at no other place on the pitch would this contact be punished as a foul. And that's how unfortunate it was. But this defeat doesn't knock us down, you saw that today. Despite all the setbacks in this game, we came back again and again, right up to the last few minutes, and we never stopped and almost got rewarded. We keep going!

Jonas Meffert: I have to hold back a bit, because when I take the penalty for 0:1, I get shot from one metre away. It's ridiculous to call a penalty, but Werder had an early advantage and played a strong first half as a result. If they had taken their chances during that time, we would have had no chance today. But as it was, we came back strongly, were clearly the better team in the second half and deserved at least a point.

Tim Walter: It was a great game for the 25,000 spectators, but with the wrong outcome. I am very proud of my team, which played a very strong game, especially in the second half. We had 70 per cent of the ball, locked Werder in and wouldn't even have been satisfied with a point. But regardless of the result, this game was again a further development of the team. You must not forget: We start this game with 0:1, which is really difficult against a strong team like Werder. Especially since you should never give the penalty for 0:1, at least not if you have played football yourself. In the same way, you should never whistle for the alleged foul before our supposed 1:1 equaliser, and then this scene is not even whistled over. Of course, that's all extremely bitter, but that makes it all the more complimentary to my team that they fought back so hard and played so well in this game. It was a very good performance.

Ole Werner: It was very close in the second half, and we managed to get the game over the finish line with a lot of effort. But in the first half we played very well, had good control, the best chances and could have led earlier. In the end, it's a deserved win from my point of view. It gives us great confidence to have passed HSV.