Following a strong second-half showing, Schalke triumphed 1-2 over Westphalian neighbours Paderborn. Players from both sides gave their reaction on a chilly evening at the Benteler-Arena.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting netted the equaliser and admitted that fortune played it's part, "You always need a bit of luck. Tonight we had that, but we also worked hard. Paderborn made life difficult for us. If you don't start well, it gives the opposition a lift and they go on to play the better football. If you're not firing on all cylinders in game like this, you encounter problems." He said, "The pitch and weather also made life difficult for us. But we're happy. Luck alone doesn't win you games. At half time the coach told us that we couldn't continue to play that way. We improved in the second half and were more effective than them. I'm delighted we won the game."
Roman Neustädter scored the winning goal and was pleased with the turnaround, "We certainly worked hard for the win. We were half-asleep in the first half. Paderborn started strongly and we were too slow in the tackle. For me, we were much better in the second half." His winner was down to Roberto di Matteo, he said, "The gaffer said Christian Fuchs would cause problems with his long throws. I hung about near the goal hoping the defender would lose track of me and went looking for the header. On one occasion it worked out and thankfully it went in. At the end of the day, luck was on our side."
Ralf Fährmann thought that Schalke deserved the three points and also credited di Matteo for the change of fortune, "It was a hard-fought win. It rained throughout and the playing service made life hard. We raised our game in the second half and were clinical in front of goal, so we deserved the win. The coach's half-time team talk did the trick."
His opposite number, Lukas Kruse, disagreed with the Schalke stopper's summary: "It's a bitter pill to swallow, especially as we were clearly the better side in the first half. We at least deserved a point."
Christian Strohdiek was full of praise for his team-mates and felt that they were unlucky, "We showed from the get-go that we were on it. We were lively, put Schalke under the cosh and opened the scoring. We were always just centimetres away after they equalised and unfortunately we've come away empty-handed."
Jens Wemmer kept it short and sweet, while remaining upbeat, "We just have to continue playing as we did. If we do that, I'm optimistic we'll pick up a few points."
Quotes via Bundesliga.com