Post match reaction
07.04.18
"We want to make the impossible possible!"
HSV out in an exceptional performance on matchday 29 that saw HSV come out with a 3-2 win against second placed Schalke 04 in their fight for survival. HSV.de noted the match reaction following a hard-fought win for the Rothosen.
HSV went through a rollercoaster of emotions on Saturday evening. After Naldo’s early header, HSV fought hard and deservedly equalised through Filip Kostic, before taking the lead through Lewis Holtby. However, second-placed Schalke, coming into the game on the back of six straight wins, levelled the game through Guido Burgstaller. The game though swung back in HSV’s favour in the 84th minute. Aaron Hunt’s long range strike rifled into the top corner and ensured all three points stayed in the Volksparkstadion.
With their best performance of the season so far, the Rothosen have renewed momentum in their fight against relegation. Here’s what the team had to say after picking up a massive three points.
Lewis Holtby: Today we played against a side that are second in the table and in the semi-final of the DFB-Pokal and we came out on top. The fans saw that we’re playing football again. The team has identity again. We’re pushing one another on. Today was unbelievable. I’ve never stopped hoping. I’m an optimistic guy who works hard and tries to stay positive when things don’t go right. Therefore, the win and my goal make me more confident than ever. We have to keep playing like this. We are HSV: We want to make the impossible possible! I’ve seen here many times what we’re capable of doing at the death.
Rick van Drongelen: Today we showed there’s life in HSV yet. We played great football for 90 minutes. The fans kept us going. It’s great we could repay them with a win. We have five games to go and we have to approach each one like today. Aaron’s goal was sensational. Any goal like that is special. I don’t know if I’ll ever score one like that in my career! Ito also was exceptional. I told him at half time that he needed to keep taking players on in one-on-one situations as the defenders were scared of him. At the break, we swore to one another we were going to win this game – no matter what.
Gotoku Sakai: It was a great performance from us. We’re delighted to get three points. The atmosphere was exceptional. It’s important that we all stick together. We’re slowly improving. In past games, we’ve fallen slightly short but today everything went right. It was great fun to see Ito playing with confidence and courage again. He was brilliant.
Christian Titz: We started very well but conceded early on. After going 1-0 down, we didn’t give up and scored a deserved equaliser. At half time, we knew Schalke would come out fighting but we did well to keep them at bay. All in all, it was a rollercoaster. We led again and then conceded. We continued to create chances and deserved to win in the end. Nothing’s changed in our situation though. We still believe we can do it and always have done. We don’t want to get over-excited after one win. We need to keep going.
Domenico Tedesco: Congratulations to HSV on a deserved win. We wanted to press high to force HSV into mistakes but we made too many errors as seen in the 1-1 equaliser. In the first half, we were poor. We made changes at half-time and did better. It was a deserved win for HSV. Good luck to them in their fight for survival.