“It’s a painful one” - Union match reaction

We gathered the thoughts from the players and coaches after Borussia’s 1-1 draw with Union Berlin on Saturday.

Marcus Thuram: I’m very happy to be back on the pitch with my teammates. The fans were back in the stadium and were expecting a good performance from myself and Lasso on our return. We gave our all, but unfortunately it was only enough for a draw. Every game in the Bundesliga is special, but next week’s obviously carries real significance – it’s a derby. We want to go into that game with the right mentality in order to put in a quality performance and get the three points.

Lars Stindl: When you look at the game as a whole, I think a draw is a fair result. We played our own game well in the first half and early in the second; we had a lot of possession and control and that led to us taking the lead. We knew that Union would make life difficult for us and keep things tight at the back. We were hoping that the goal would help us slow the game down, and there was more space for us to attack into, but we didn’t make the most of it – we made sloppy mistakes and weren’t quick enough to get forward. Their goal from a corner was very unlucky for us. We obviously pictured the start of the new season going differently, but we have to accept it. We all want to be playing in full stadiums again, but today was a first step in the right direction. It was very special to have the fans back, even though we couldn’t give them a win.

Jonas Hofmann: We moved the ball around well in the first half, yet we didn’t actually create that many chances. Unfortunately, we’re just not reaching the necessary level at the moment to pick up three points in the Bundesliga. Today was a chance to kick-start our league season, but we missed it. It hurts a lot not to have won the game today – it’s a painful one.

Marco Rose: All in all, Union deserved a point. Their own performance is the main factor behind that, but our performance is a big reason too. We weren’t confident enough on the ball and made too many mistakes, particularly in the first half. That gave Union chances to counterattack, which is exactly what they were hoping for. We were organised a little differently in the second half, were more in control and ultimately took the lead. You have to be able to see out the result in a game like this, but then came their goal from a corner. We have to live with the draw.

Union Berlin head coach Urs Fischer: It’s a point gained for us today and I think a deserved one when you look at the 90 minutes as a whole. The team executed our game plan very well. Gladbach couldn’t play football the way they wanted to, which is down to the lads. I thought we were actually unlucky to go 1-0 down too. I’m really proud of the boys for not letting their heads drop – they carried on believing that they could get a result.