Mixed Zone Interviews: Union Berlin

Borussia Dortmund just about survived in the second round of the DFB-Pokal on Wednesday night, beating 2. Bundesliga side Union Berlin 4-1 on penalties. Here’s what the head coach and players had to say after the thrilling match (sources: Sky, Ruhr Nachrichten).

Thomas Tuchel: “It was a tough fight out there. We always believed in our chances to win even if our play was quite error-prone today. We won through persistence and will. It was a good lesson today. You can never give up. Those 30 minutes of extra time will serve a purpose looking at Saturday [and the Revierderby against Schalke 04]. A huge compliment to the fans. They were a huge factor in the shootout at the end.”

Roman Weidenfeller: “We can be happy to have advanced into the next round. We didn’t exactly cover ourselves in glory out there. We all know that, we didn’t play well. It was disjointed from the first minute. We were lucky to score shortly before half-time, that was huge. Afterwards we completely gave it away, unfortunately.”

Weidenfeller on the shootout: “It was important to me to exude calmness and to give my team the feeling that we’ll make it. At the end of the day you have to trust your gut in a shootout. This time I was the lucky one. The club means a lot to me, everybody knows that. I gave my all for BVB every day over 15 years. I wanted to document that with my pointing to the club crest on my jersey. I want to thank all the fans. This support is anything but taken for granted.”

Borussia Dortmund edge Union Berlin on penalties to advance in the DFB Pokal

Nuri Sahin: “I told the lads, if the shootout takes place in front of the Südtribüne, we’ll definitely win. I’ve never experienced penalties here in this stadium in 12 years and the boys did a great job. Roman did brilliantly, the takers did very well. There are these days when it just doesn’t come off so easily, but in the cup the only thing that counts is going through and we managed that today.”

Gut team! Gut Roman! !!! 👍🏼 Next round! #DFBPokal #HEJABVB 🌕⚫️ pic.twitter.com/r7qI3R2oLS

— Marc Bartra (@MarcBartra) October 26, 2016