“A good foundation” | OneFootball

Dino Toppmöller, Ansgar Knauff and Ellyes Skhiri reflect on the 2-1 win over AFC Ajax in the UEFA Europa League last 16 first leg.

Head coach Dino Toppmöller: “It’s a deserved win. We knew Ajax would be very proactive and put us under pressure in the opening minutes, which is when they took the lead. After that, my players’ reaction was fantastic. We were a bit lucky with the equaliser but we thoroughly deserved to score in that period. The second half was a bit quieter at both ends, but we still got our goal. Psychologically, it was very important to win in this stadium. The result has given us a good foundation, but no more than that. Our focus now is back on the Bundesliga and 1. FC Union Berlin.”

Ansgar Knauff: “We delivered a very good performance, had good patterns of play in attack, got forward a lot in the first half in particular and didn’t let their goal knock us off our stride. We deserved to win the game in the end. Our expectations were high, we wanted to play with drive and put our opponents under pressure, which we managed to do. However, we also know that this was only the first half and that the return leg next week is going to be just as difficult.”

Ellyes Skhiri: “It’s a wonderful moment and a superb evening to score my first goal of the season and get the win here. We knew it would be a difficult game. It’s not easy to play against Ajax – they’re a good team. We played with our heads and our hearts and deserved to win in the end. It wasn’t all perfect, but we held firm as a team from beginning to end and showed great team spirit.”