“It’s still in our hands” | OneFootball

Markus Krösche, Dino Toppmöller and Kevin Trapp lamented the manner of St. Pauli’s goals, but they were pleased with Eintracht’s response.

Board member for sport Markus Krösche: “We wanted to win this game at home, and we started well with the goal. We made two avoidable mistakes after that. We got the equaliser and applied pressure, but we didn’t have the luck we needed to get the third goal that seemed to be coming. We’ve still had a good season so far and occupy the strongest position of the three teams fighting for a place in the Champions League ahead of the final day. We can’t take as many defensive risks in Freiburg as we did in the build-up to their second goal. We just have to go there and play our football again.”

Head coach Dino Toppmöller: “We had a dream start, then conceded two unfortunate goals and needed time to get over those shocks. We reacted well in the second half and [Champions League qualification] is still in our hands now. Maybe this is just the kind of challenge the team needs to grow more quickly. We weren’t at our absolute best. You need to be sharp, but you also need to be relaxed. We may have been missing the latter, which is what we needed to deliver a better performance on the pitch. We’d have all taken our current position heading into the final day of the season. We’re in a better position than Freiburg, but we still won’t be playing for a draw and want to finish the job there.”

Kevin Trapp: “We’d definitely imagined a different outcome here. We made a brilliant start, taking the lead in the first minute. The stadium was already incredibly loud during the warm-up. I’m sure a lot of people will have gone home disappointed after that result. Irrespective of the outcome, we put in an enormous amount of effort, which is why the disappointment outweighs everything else. I think I’ve been at Eintracht 13 years now and I can’t remember going into the final matchday with everything decided. This is Eintracht Frankfurt and it’s hard on your nerves, but I’m convinced we’ll make it in the end.”