We gathered the thoughts from the Borussia players and the two coaches after Borussia’s 2-2 draw with Schalke 04 on Saturday evening.
Christoph Kramer: We played some good football in the opening 20 minutes without really making any headway. Not being able to find any gaps in the early phases is completely normal in the Bundesliga though. We worked out how to open them up more and more and, ultimately, I think we put in a very good away performance in a very tough atmosphere. It makes it all the more frustrating to concede the equaliser in stoppage time. It’s one of those things that can happen. You can give the penalty, but I’m confident that Schalke wouldn’t have gone on to score otherwise.
Jonas Hofmann: The coach praised us after the game for the performance and the character we showed, but I have to say that I’m quite disappointed with a draw. That Patrick touched the ball with his hand is something that will annoy him more than anyone else. That happens in football. We played with real dominance today and had a lot of possession, which is what we need as a team. If we can work space and get into good positions, we have a lot of quality to offer. I think you can tell there’s a lot of positivity around the club lately, and we want to keep that up. Three points would have put us joint top, which would have been nice going into next Friday’s home game against Hertha.
Daniel Farke: It’s disappointing to concede an equaliser in more or less the last second, but that’s football. You can’t produce a result – all you can do is deliver a performance, and I have to say, I’m very happy with my team. We dominated the game for long periods and deserved to turn the game around in a very fiery atmosphere. In the end, we conceded an unfortunate equaliser, but I still think the lads put in a brilliant performance.
Schalke head coach Frank Kramer: We did really well in the first half and were dangerous in the final third. We knew that Gladbach would have more of the ball than us. They play good football, remain patient and aren’t afraid to go backwards. We had a lot of shots and were more direct. We were too passive after the break and couldn’t maintain our threat from the first half. The pressure got too much and unfortunately we conceded twice. The team reacted well after their second goal, gave their all and got their reward for that.
