"We must now take this energy with us"

When referee Dr. Arne Aarnink ended the game after 93 minutes, most of the HSV professionals sank to the ground, completely exhausted but nevertheless overjoyed. The last whistle of the referee sealed the hard-fought and, all things considered, deserved 2-1 home victory in the northern duel with Hannover 96. The braver Lower Saxons tried to force the equaliser in the final phase, but the Rothosen held their own with great passion and, thanks to the home victory, got themselves a real final match in Rostock, which will take place on 15 May (kick-off: 3.30 p.m.) and was, of course, also mentioned in the comments on the match.

Sebastian Schonlau: It was brutally important that we took the lead early. "Baka" played two phenomenal balls and "Bobby" stood where he has to stand. We then caught the 1:2 relatively quickly. That prevented calm coming into the game. It went back and forth. We missed scoring the 3:1. Nevertheless, it was sensational how the boys gave their all and fought until the end. On top of that, the fans pushed us incredibly hard. We have to take all this energy with us now. We are a team that can work hard. It will be a huge game next week.

Moritz Heyer: It was a very great atmosphere. It was unbelievable fun to play football here. The fans were outstanding. We put a lot of pressure on them in the early stages, but we have to criticise ourselves for not scoring the third goal and not playing the counterattacks too well. But that is normal. We always want to be brave and that's why we won the game. We now have to continue to give 100 per cent, then we will also manage to win in Rostock.

"We have to take the good feeling with us and go all out again in Rostock"

Robert Glatzel: It was a highly emotional game, the fans pushed us forward incredibly from the first minute, they were the key today. Baka did an outstanding job preparing my two goals, but we also didn't allow much defensively, even though Hannover threw everything forward, especially towards the end. So there were many factors that led to the victory. Now we have to go all out against Rostock, get another win and then we'll see what happens. We have to take the good feeling from today with us and do our job. 

Tim Walter: Today the luck was on our side. After Weydandt's great chance, we did it ice-cold, the assists from "Baka" were sensational. We were a bit sleepy when we conceded the goal, but in the second half we really invested everything we had in the tank. So it was a great football festival today and we deserved to win in the end. The fans were incredible and played a big part in the victory.

Christoph Dabrowski: The spectators saw an incredibly good and spectacular game, especially in the first half. We had two great chances, could have taken the lead, but conceded two quick goals after a good opportunity. After we scored again, we were able to keep the game open, but especially in the second half, we lacked the final determination. HSV put on no end of pressure, but you could still feel that they had something to lose. At the end of the day, you could see that HSV has a very high-quality team. I wish them all the best in achieving their goals.