“We’re in a good position” – Shakhtar match reaction

We gathered the thoughts from the players and coaches after Borussia’s 4-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday night.

Lars Stindl: We were determined to get the win today, and I think you could see that. We had put ourselves in a good position after the first three games and we wanted to pick up where we left off three weeks ago against Shakhtar. We knew that we would have to work for it, as they’re a very experienced side. We’re all really happy for Breel. He worked really hard before his goal and he’s very important for us, but now he’s rewarded himself with a goal too. We showed our quality today and deserved to win by as much as we did. We fought hard last year to be able to be in the Champions League. We’re excited for every single game and said from the start that we have ambitious goals and want to get as far as possible. We have eight points after four games and are in a good position.

Breel Embolo: I’m happy that we got the three points today. You always want to score goals as a striker and I’m pleased to have done that today. The lads in the dressing room will say it’s typical for me to score the most difficult chance after missing some easier ones, but that’s how it goes sometimes. The most important thing is that we got the win. We’ve now got two more games left in the Champions League. We did well in the first meetings against Inter and Real, now we have the chance to pick up more points against them or perhaps even win. First though, we have to recover quickly and focus on the Bundesliga game against Schalke. The news of Diego Maradona’s death shocked us all. Everyone knows how good a footballer he was. I never saw him live of course, but I’ve seen so many videos of him. He was an inspiration for every player. My thoughts are with his family.

Yann Sommer: We played really well in both games against Shakhtar Donetsk, who are a very good side. We gave them a tough task. I didn’t have much to do and that means that we were very solid defensively and took control in attack. You can’t be clinical in every single game, so it was important to score early on. It was a setback for them. We slowed things down a little after that, communicated well and kept things tight between the lines. We have had problems in the closing stages of matches, but not today. We were very focused and saw the result out well. I’m delighted that Breel got his goal. He has worked really hard in recent weeks and is an important player for us. We’re in a good position in the group, which is nice, but we know that there are still two games to go. They will be tough challenges, but we want to progress to the knockouts.

Marco Rose: Shakhtar are a good, footballing side that are well organised. We’ve had two very good days against them. The team played really well. They started strongly, focused on getting the result and did a lot of things right. Nothing is decided in our group yet. The eight points gives us a good position going into our final games against Inter and Real. Lars Stindl is in great form at the moment. He is putting in good performances and is leading by example – that’s his job and he is doing that superbly at the moment.

Shakhtar head coach Luis Castro: We saw two very different halves today. We made a lot of individual mistakes in the first half, but we improved after the break. I think the first meeting in Kyiv had a mental affect on the team. The 6-0 loss was a reflection of what happened on the pitch, but the 4-0 loss tonight isn’t. I think that it’s a little too high and that we deserved better today.

[Translate to English:] Breel Embolo
[Translate to English:] Yann Sommer

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