Elvedi "proud" of his 200 appearances

Nico Elvedi spoke in a FohlenTV interview about his landmark appearance for Borussia, the team’s strength from set-pieces and the remaining five games of the season.

Nico, at 24 years of age, you made your 200th competitive appearance for Borussia yesterday. How pleased are you with this milestone?

Elvedi: 200 – that is a very nice round number. To mark this milestone with a big win like that makes it even better. I am proud to have played so many games for Borussia and I obviously hope that many more will follow.

You very nearly crowned your landmark game with a goal as well. Are you annoyed that your header at 2-0 hit the crossbar?

Elvedi: Definitely not annoyed. After all, Ramy scored from the rebound. It was a very important goal – at 3-0 the game was more or less won. We did give them the odd chance towards the end, but on the whole we saw the game out comfortably and added another just before the full-time whistle to make it 4-0.

Would you have expected such a comprehensive win beforehand?

Elvedi: No, obviously not – Frankfurt have been on top form recently. The game was in the balance for a long time as well. Both teams went all out from the get-go. I think we were a tad better and we had the better chances as a result. In the end, 4-0 was absolutely a fair result.

Another two goals from corners yesterday! That’s really been Borussia’s biggest threat this season…

Elvedi: Set-pieces have definitely been one of our biggest strengths, yes. We’ve got some very good takers and good headers of the ball waiting in the box. Yesterday we were able to get another two goals from corner kicks. It’s really important to be able to score from these situations and steer a game in your favour.

Jonas Hofmann took both of those corners and scored a goal himself. That was quite a comeback, wasn’t it?

Elvedi: We know how good Hoffi is – we know the quality he has. We’ve missed them somewhat in recent games. I’m really pleased for him coming back into the team with a goal and an assist and an all-round superb performance. It did the whole team a lot of good.

You also returned to the team yesterday after a short injury spell. How did that feel?

Elvedi: It was nice to be back on the pitch and a 4-0 win obviously makes it even better. We need to throw everything we’ve got at the final five games now in order to achieve our season objectives.  

How do you rate your chances of getting into Europe?

Elvedi: We really needed the three points yesterday to keep within distance of the qualifying spots. Now we need to keep winning and try to attack the teams ahead of us.

On Wednesday night (20:30 CEST) you’re right back at it with an away game against Hoffenehim. What are your energy reserves looking like?

Elvedi: We’ve had some more normal weeks of late, so we should have enough energy now. We’ve also got enough time to rest before the game, so that we are fully recharged and ready to give it our all again by Wednesday night.