“This victory tastes incredibly sweet!” - post-match reaction to #BMGKOE

Marvin Friedrich, Jonas Hofmann, Christoph Kramer and both head coaches Daniel Farke and Steffen Baumgart offer their post-match reaction to the 5-2 win against 1. FC Köln.

Jonas Hofmann: This victory tastes incredibly sweet, and it was a very successful afternoon. It was important for us to show a reaction after the 5-1 loss in Bremen, which we managed. It was really back and forth right at the start, but then we slowly gained control and scored at the right times. We dropped the intensity a little after going 3-1 up, otherwise the result could have been even higher. In the end, it was a deserved win.

Marvin Friedrich: We were in red-hot form today, you could see that out on the pitch. The coach did well to prepare us for the opponent. We were alert and deservedly won. Unlike last weekend in Bremen, we were much more compact and had far more possession and control. We started well into the derby and I’m happy that I was able to help the team by scoring the opener. Köln’s red card obviously playing into our hands, but I think that we were already the better side when it was still 11 vs. 11 in the first half.

Christoph Kramer: Winning this game 5-2 was incredibly important. Not only because it was the derby, but also because three points are a massive help to us in the table. The key to our success was that we did exactly what we needed to in order to neutralise our opponents. We looked to pass often, because that’s one way to beat Köln. The way in which we controlled the game was good, despite looking much less dominant when we were a man up than we did when it was 11 vs. 11 still.

Head coach Daniel Farke: To come back like this after such a tough defeat in Bremen and to win the derby for the first time in a while was very important. During the first half, you could see why Köln have lost so rarely in recent months. They are very intense in their press and incredibly compact in midfield. You have to be tactically clever and be patient in building up your attacks, just like we did before we made it 1-0. After the equaliser, we immediately started creating pressure again. To make it 3-1 when we were also a man up was also very important. I wasn’t that happy with how we played after it was 4-1, because we were too hectic on the ball. Overall, however, it’s a deserved win.

Trainer Steffen Baumgart(1. FC Köln): We conceded five goals today, which doesn’t feel good at all, but we need to deal with it. We won’t let it throw us off our path. We were fortunate to be able to get back in the game after going 1-0 down. We didn’t have as many chances beforehand as we would have wanted. After going behind from the spot and then having a man sent off, it obviously became very difficult. We tried to reorganise ourselves at half time, but then immediately conceded to make it 3-1. The game was more or less over from that point on. Gladbach did well with a man advantage. They let the ball do the work and out played us in certain situations.