“It doesn’t get much better than that first half”

Jae-sung Lee: “We had to win today. That’s why we played with such intensity in the first half. That’s exactly how we like to play. I didn’t score my goals on my own, they came from work by the whole team. I’m really happy about that. We have to keep our focus for the next match.”

Martin Schmidt: “We did well, that’s for sure. We took advantage of the fact that our opponent’s players had never really played as a team before. Before they were able to get into the flow of the game and start playing instinctively, we hit them where it hurts. We won a lot of aerial duels and we had much more aggression – that was the key. Gruda kept putting them on the back foot with his dribbling. That meant we were able to take an early lead, which gave us the confidence to keep piling on the pressure, exactly how the coach wanted. The result in Cologne gave us another boost. Now everything is possible heading into the last game. We need to use this match as a template and play to win in Wolfsburg.”

Silvan Widmer: “We can be very proud of our performance. We were on fire right from the off. There was never any doubt as to who needed the points more. I have to take a moment to compliment my team-mates – it doesn’t get much better than that first half. It was outstanding, as was the atmosphere in the stadium. We took a big step today, but we’re not there yet. We’ll approach the final matchday the same way.”

Celebrating with the fans after the final whistle

Robin Zentner: “It was a very good first half. We put a lot of pressure on them and could have scored even more. But we needed it because we didn’t score any more goals in the second half. Our defensive performance was rock-solid. The full-backs in particular did a brilliant job to keep Dortmund away from goal. Dome and Hanche-Olsen kept applying the pressure; they didn’t give them any chances to work the ball out of tight spaces. I don’t think Sepp lost a single challenge. That’s how we have to be. We’ve been under constant pressure over the last few weeks and it’s still there. Now our future’s in our own hands, which feels really good. We have to get over the finish line next week.”