"As tough as expected"

It was a tough battle: In the DFB-Cup 'Round of 16', the Wolves struggled for a long time against 1. FC Nürnberg, but eventually broke down their second division hosts to earn a 2-0 victory after extra-time. The Green-Whites needed time to find their way into the game, but could have decided the tie in their favour within the regular ninety minutes. It took until extra-time, but the Wolves then rose to their role as favourites. VfL coach Martin Schmidt was above all happy with progression to the quarter-final stage of the competition.

Michael Köllner: Defeats always hurt. The lads put on a determined battle and did a lot of things right. In the end, it proved difficult for us to maintain our compactness. We unfortunately failed to make a number of good chances count. There were a couple of occasions when I though the ball was in the net, but mere centimetres eluded us. Following the 0-1, it became very difficult to land a punch. It became clear to see the quality possessed by Wolfsburg, who were extremely cool-headed on the ball. More than anything else right now, I am very proud of my team and the fans.

Martin Schmidt: It was tough a tie as we had expected. On the back of the defeat in Cologne at the weekend, this was an extremely important test for us. Right from the out-set, it was clear that we would have to defend and hold our own against the Club. After just five minutes, my players saw exactly what I had warned of in my analysis prior to the match. The first hour was tough going and at the break we spoke about having to stick to our guns, because at some stage the spaces would open up and we would then be able to play more football. If we’d have pushed from the outset, the game could have ended like the clash with Köln. Upon introducing Daniel Didavi, our game then changed, we found the spaces to operate in, became a little more stable and then got a grip on the game towards the end.