Sippel: “We showed them who’s boss right from the start”

In an interview, Tobias Sippel talks about his competitive comeback and Borussia’s easy win on the way to advancing to the second round of the DFB-Pokal.

Tobi, how nice was it for you to finally feature in a competitive game again yesterday?

Sippel: Friendlies are something different, which is why I was very happy to finally feature in a competitive game again, after nearly two years. I would be very happy if I were able to make a few more appearances in the DFB-Pokal this season.

You didn’t really have much to do because the visitors rarely threatened in front of goal. How difficult is a game like that for a goalkeeper?

Sippel: Of course it’s a lot easier if you’re busy during the entire match. I didn’t really have much to do yesterday, but I still couldn’t lose focus. Shortly after the break, Oberneuland had a good chance to score but luckily they missed. You always have to be prepared for situations like that. In the end, it was also nice that we kept a clean sheet.

Right from the start, it never seemed in doubt that you would win. Was that also your game plan?

Sippel: On Friday you saw a good example of what can happen in the Pokal. So, we had a bit of a warning. We wanted to take a different route right from the start and show them who's boss. We wanted to dominate the opening 15 minutes and score early, in order to give our opponents no hope. We managed to so do in spectacular fashion.

There were also 300 fans in attendance at the BORUSSIA-PARK. Was that different compared to playing in front of empty stands?

Sippel: It’s definitely a small step in the right direction. The atmosphere is definitely better than playing in front of empty stands. There were more than 1,000 fans in attendance for our friendly in Venlo. I hope that we will soon be able to do the same.

You begin your Bundesliga campaign against Dortmund next Saturday. What can we expect to see?

Sippel: We got off to a good start in the Pokal, and now we want to do the same in the league. It will definitely be a different game than what we saw yesterday. But, if we’re able to bring the same level of quality and fun to the pitch in Dortmund, then we’ll be able to take something from that game. That’s our goal. We want to get off to a good start in the Bundesliga and make the others take notice.