“We’ve relieved a lot of pressure”

Phillipp Mwene: “It was another tough game and we had to work hard for the win. We stayed focused after going behind and didn’t let our heads drop. I’ve probably never had as many shots in a game as I did today. It was a good performance from us defensively and offensively today. The head coach demanded us to be brave, get into the box and look to take shots on. Today is the result of the last few weeks of training – we’ve relieved a lot of pressure and we need to keep going. We’re doing well, but we’ve not achieved anything yet. We need the same intensity that we’ve got at home away from home too.”

Jonny Burkardt: “Going 1-0 down was unlucky, even though we played really well. We took strength from it during the interval and decided to step up our game. We can deal with setbacks and we stayed calm. We then got the goals after the break and played well. Caci’s cross for my goal was perfect – it was really good. We had good variety to our game in general today, which made it difficult for the opposition to adjust. That makes it easier for all of us. We want to increase the likelihood of survival with our performances and we’re only looking at our own results. Karim scoring rounded things off perfectly.”

Martin Schmidt: “The first half was the foundation for the win. Hoffenheim didn’t really know how they were in front, but they were tired because we kept pressing and kept the pressure up. That was the requirement from us – we didn’t change much and maintained the pace. We then got our chances and overran them after the break. It was an incredible second half, and we want to build on it as we’re only thinking about our own performances. Our final few matches are crucial – we’re not looking at other games. We can only achieve our goals by doing that. The team is playing with confidence – we’ve known that they can play football for a long time. The head coach has changed the players’ mindset with his energy, but we’re not dreaming, but rather looking ahead to the next challenge in Freiburg. We’re not satisfied yet – now more than ever. Other teams are getting nervous now.”

Andreas Hanche-Olsen: “Hoffenheim were efficient before half time, but during the break we had no doubts that we had been the better team and would go on to win the game. We believed in ourselves and we showed that throughout the whole 90 minutes. We’re doing well, in attack and defence, and we’re controlling games. The situation is still complicated and we’ve now got games against Freiburg and Köln – we need more points. We’re on the right track with this mixture of quality and confidence.”