“Real were a step too far” | OneFootball

Board member for sport Markus Krösche, Sebastian Rode and Kevin Trapp explain the reasons for the Super Cup defeat but also look ahead to the next Bundesliga match.

Board member for sport Markus Krösche: “Real were a step too far and they’re not the yardstick we measure ourselves against. The boys earned this match and we saw a clear improvement from the game on Friday. We'll put this behind us immediately. Tonight we came up against a team who were superior in every department. We did a decent job, we had the first chance of the match. If we’d scored that, maybe it could have turned out differently. On the other hand, you have to say that Real were always capable of turning up the pace and the intensity, which we couldn’t keep up with. The boys did everything but we deserved to lose. Our yardstick is Hertha BSC and the Bundesliga. That’s what our focus needs to be on, that’s what we’ll be judged on – not on Real Madrid.”

Sebastian Rode: “In a match like this, obviously you want to claim the trophy but we just came up short today. We played considerably better than against Bayern. Real have immense quality, you end up running a lot for nothing because they hardly play any misplaced paces. Christopher Lenz was pretty much injured for a year but did well today. He’ll be able to help us more often this season.”

Kevin Trapp: “Our block is still full even though we lost. You see how proud the fans are of us, which is a great feeling. We had a few chances to score as well, but then you lose to the Champions League winners in a game like this. If we’d scored, then Real would’ve had to do more, so eventually they would’ve seen it home. We played much better than against Bayern. In my eyes it was a good performance, unfortunately not with the right result.”