"The key to success"

Niko Bungert: “The lads were unbelievable today. We kept pushing after going 2-0 up and that was also what was talked about at half-time, to go for the third goal and not let ourselves be pegged back. The team has been brilliant with the precision those small defensive details over the last few weeks. It’s about not allowing your opponent to get into the game. Thanks to our self-confidence, we’ve managed to have that dominance across nearly the whole 90 minutes several times in recent games. In my opinion, that’s down to those details in defence. You gradually then get better in the attacking situations in order to play the way we did again today. Every individual as well as the team on the whole is alert and clear-minded, which is so important.”

Stefan Bell: “Robin made an outstanding save to keep out Hoffenheim’s one great chance in the second half. Apart from that, we were very solid against a team that defended and pressed us better than Kiel did last week. Today’s match was more about long balls and second balls and the plan the coaches wanted us to implement was right. We did a good job of stopping Hoffenheim in central areas and were strong in our tackles. That was important today, because the lads up working hard up top then takes a lot of pressure off of us. The opponents then play a lot of long balls, which we can defend effectively. Robin’s contract extension is very good news and also stands for what the team, the club and the fans are all about.”