Victor Pálsson: We were a real unit | OneFootball

The Royal Blues were over the moon after their 3-1 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf on Saturday night (28/8). We heard from the two head coaches at the post-match press conference, while Victor Pálsson and Marius Bülter gave us their thoughts on Schalke’s first home victory of the season.

We were determined to finally get our first home win, so I’m delighted that we’ve been able to do it. I’m really pleased for the fans, who supported us brilliantly for the whole 90 minutes. The atmosphere in the stadium was amazing. I think our body language, our compactness and our physicality were key to the win. Getting those aspects right allowed us to beat a good Düsseldorf side. We didn’t allow ourselves to become unsettled by their early goal and we continued to create good chances after the equaliser. We really looked to use the wings to get our strikers into the game. We had a lot of good moments, particularly through Thomas Ouwejan. It’s important that the lads enjoy this win. The three points give us a lot of confidence, but we also know that we need to keep on working hard.

Congratulations to Schalke 04. When you look at the 90 minutes as whole, it’s a deserved victory. We took the lead with a great goal, but we conceded the equaliser too soon after that. If we had been able to stay 1-0 up for longer, I think that we could have gotten a result today. The most frustrating thing for me is how we started the second half; that shouldn’t be happening.

The fans were right behind us throughout the match and every player gave their all. It’s an incredibly good feeling to have won today. The celebrations were wild after the third goal. Simon Terodde is just a machine, but he’s not the only one. I’m incredibly proud of our team. We were a real unit out there, together with the fans as well. It was really important to get the win after a couple of difficult weeks. We reacted well after their early goal and deserved to equalise. Going 2-1 up right at the start of the second half was vital.

You can see how much it meant to us after the third goal. It was pure relief – just such an amazing feeling. I’ve been saying this week that I want to score my first goal at the VELTINS-Arena and get my first home win, and I’ve managed both. I have a good strike partnership with Simon Terodde; it’s a lot of fun playing alongside him, as well as with the rest of the team. We showed a good response after going behind early on and deserved to get the win. However, we’re also aware that we weren’t as in control during the closing stages as we were earlier in the game. We need to work on that so that we can put in a strong performance across the entire 90 minutes and kill the game earlier.