“Luck was on our side” - Werder match reaction

We heard from the players and coaches after Borussia’s 1-0 win over Werder Bremen on Tuesday evening.

Nico Elvedi: It’s a crucial three points. We started well, worked the ball around nicely and counterpressed Werder effectively. We continued to play well in the second half and got our goal. Laci’s free-kick was delivered brilliantly; it was right on my head and I was able to make the perfect contact. I was delighted to see it go in off the post. Bremen then stepped up their game and both teams had their chances. We’ve conceded a number of late goals recently, but luck was on our side today and we defended well at the end too. I think it’s a fair enough win.

Yann Sommer: Too often in the past, we haven’t defended well in the closing stages and we’ve been punished as a result. That has cost us quite a few points. This time we had the rub of the green, and I think we’ve earned that in recent weeks. Bremen threw everything at it at the end and got a couple of chances, which is to be expected. We managed to see the 1-0 win over the line though and could round off the first half of the season with a positive result, which was important. We’re straight back at it on Friday though and want to pick up some more points against Dortmund.

Marco Rose: I think that we had the better of the game for the most part, but we didn’t have any clear-cut chances because Werder defended well. We had to deal with two or three very dangerous counterattacks in the first half, but I still had a good feeling at half time. I reminded the boys that you need patience against Werder and that one moment can be decisive. It’s good and important to have got the win thanks to a set-piece. We lost our control at the end completely because Bremen really pushed hard. We were lucky with their shot against the post, something that we’ve been missing a lot this season. I’m very happy with the result and with the way my team performed because we were up against a Bremen side that were set up very well, that battled hard and that were dangerous on the counter, and we got a clean sheet and the win.

Werder Bremen head coach Florian Kohfeldt: I didn’t think that there was a clear better team today. Both sides had their game plan and ours was going well for much of the game. Borussia had a little more of the ball and were often in potentially dangerous areas. We dealt with that well for the most part though. The difference was that Gladbach took one of their chances. That’s why it’s an unfortunate defeat for us, without wanting to say that we were the better team. I think that we would have deserved a draw though, if not even a win, because of the number of chances we had. I’m very happy with our performance, but I’m obviously disappointed with the result.