He simply focused and let fly - the ball was then catapulted unstoppably into the top left corner of the net: “That was without a doubt the best goal that I have scored for HSV...
He simply focused and let fly - the ball was then catapulted unstoppably into the top left corner of the net: “That was without a doubt the best goal that I have scored for HSV...
He simply focused and let fly - the ball was then catapulted unstoppably into the top left corner of the net: “That was without a doubt the best goal that I have scored for HSV, maybe even the best in my whole career,” glowed Ivica Olic, who was well aware that his stunning goal was responsible for his sides somewhat fortunate win.
“Coming to the decision to just let fly like that is something that you can only congratulate him on, but really we should never have allowed him to shoot so freely,” commented Werder coach Thomas Schaaf, who saw one lapse cost his side a deserved point, at the very least, for their efforts.
Both technically and through their determination, Werder were the side in charge over long periods at the HSH Nordbank Arena: “Football can be very unjust! I didn’t see HSV doing anything special at all - just long balls forward and one great shot. Now they are out there celebrating the points,” remarked a frustrated Torsten Frings. Per Mertesacker was some degree less emotional in his analysis of the match: “The performance was ok, the result wasn’t. It looked to be going quite well today. We were very determined, we put in the work and we had the feeling from the very beginning that we could take something from this game. Not even going a goal behind changed that! Once we equalised, we took control of the game. We put a lot of dangerous crosses into their six yard box but we just didn’t have anyone there to put the ball over the line.”
In summing up the tie, Frank Baumann also commented on the Green-Whites deficits: “We didn’t take the chances that we created for ourselves in the second half and so, we can’t complain about the fact that they won the tie with a one-off strike.” The Werder captain was bitterly disappointed at the result: “That was a very important game for us, and not just because it was the northern derby. It would have made a big difference to our position in the table if we could have continued our away trend.”
