"We are continuing on our way, we are not finished yet".

The tension was palpable and tangible when HSV coach Tim Walter answered journalists' questions at the press conference ahead of the relegation second leg against Hertha BSC at the sold-out Volksparkstadion on Sunday (22 May). There were more media present than usual and you could feel the positive tension all around before the match on Monday evening (23 May, 8.30pm, live on HSVnetradio), which will decide who will be the last team in the Bundesliga. HSV had deservedly won the first leg in Berlin 1-0 thanks to Ludovit Reis' goal of the day, and Hertha coach Felix Magath had therefore given HSV the role of favourites and the pressure for the second leg. This potential pressure was one of the topics of the HSV press conference - and Tim Walter spoke about...

... the personnel situation: "In the days between the first leg and the second leg, the only thing that matters is to regenerate well in order to regain power and strength by Monday evening. During this time, each player will be managed individually, which is why some of them were not on the training pitch, but worked individually. Because it's all about the game on Monday night, nothing else, and until then the full focus is on health, so that we have all the men there. Tim Leibold won't be in the squad yet, but he's there at every training session and is also so immensely important for the team. And yesterday Anssi Suhonen was also back in the dressing room for the first time after breaking his fibula. The boys were really happy to see him, and Anssi has also been laughing a lot again and really bringing energy into it. 

"The boys are bubbling over with energy, courage, conviction and anticipation for Monday night and want to make our fans and the whole city happy"

... the possible pressure: "We are not afraid of pressure, because we know that pressure is a privilege. After all, we have earned this situation ourselves and we can handle it, especially since we have only had finals for weeks and, in addition to the league and the sometimes difficult phases, we have also shown in the DFB Cup that we can master such situations. That's why we just carry on as before, we do our thing and continue on our way. Because it's not over yet, we haven't reached our goal, we're not finished yet. That's why we stick to ourselves as a team, because teams can achieve great things as a real community.

... the approach: We have total focus, after all, nothing has been won yet. It's only half-time, and at half-time you don't rejoice, but concentrate on the second half. We've been following this motto since the final whistle in Berlin and that's how we've approached the days. Because we know that we have to give everything we've got in the second leg. But the boys are bursting with energy, courage, conviction and anticipation for Monday night. We're concentrating 100 per cent on ourselves and our game, we're not interested in anything else and we're completely ignoring it. It's all about us and our game, because we want to make ourselves, our fans and the whole city happy.