We gathered the thoughts from the players and coaches after Borussia’s 3-1 win over TSG Hoffenheim on the opening day of the new Bundesliga season.
Jonas Hofmann: It was a lot of fun and we’re really happy to have gotten the three points. We saw videos of the fan march to the stadium before the game and that really got us fired up. You really can get that extra couple of percent from the supporters and we left it out on the pitch. We played well; we kept our composure after going behind and waited for our chances. It’s not a bad way to start the season and we can take this positivity into the next games. We saw what we’re capable of and the kind of atmosphere we can create together with the fans. We want to keep that going. We want to become a force at home and that is only possible if we all work together, and today was a great first step.
Yann Sommer: It’s never easy playing against ten men because you’re opponents are only focused on defending. We were left a little shocked by their opener, so it was important that we didn’t become too hectic on the ball and showed patience and trust in each other. We kept the energy up. I think we played really well after the break – we stretched them more and used the space better. The atmosphere was incredible. We had close to a sell-out crowd and the weather was great, so it was more or less the perfect start to the new season. You can sense a lot of euphoria around the club, but it’s just one win. We still have lots we want to achieve this season and we have to keep working hard. For now though, we will enjoy the win and then next week we can begin our preparations for the game at Schalke.
Daniel Farke: We’re delighted to have followed up a good preseason with a solid DFB-Pokal performance and three points in our first Bundesliga game. I thought we looked a little nervy to begin with, which is unlike us. We had a 90 percent pass-success rate in the end, but we played a lot of sloppy balls in that opening 15 minutes against a very well setup and experienced Hoffenheim team. Their red card should have helped us, but it led to TSG sitting even deeper. We were a little impatient in the first half. We had a few long-range efforts and the odd set-piece, but we didn’t play with enough penetration. We talked about that at the break and our second-half performance was much better. We scored two good goals, hit the crossbar and Oliver Baumann made two or three world-class saves. It was a strong display against an opponent that continued to sit very compact. All in all, we’re happy with the game and I think it was a deserved win and a good start.
Hoffenheim head coach André Breitenreiter: I think you can sum the game up quite simply. Both teams started well and it was level pegging, but we shot ourselves in the foot with two fouls. We looked at the replays and you can’t argue with the two yellow cards. We defended well with ten men for 70 minutes and even took the lead, but we conceded the equaliser from a set-piece. If Kramaric had taken his chance after the break, perhaps it would have been a very different game, but it got tougher as it went on. I think we could have got a result today with eleven men, but in the end, it’s a deserved win for Gladbach.
