Sommer: "Not a good game from us"

Borussia keeper Yann Sommer discusses the 1-1 draw against Union Berlin on matchday 2, his 200th Bundesliga game and the upcoming derby in Cologne.

Yann, the first home game of the season ends 1-1 against Union Berlin. You will definitely have expected a different outcome. How would you assess the game?

Yann Sommer: Ultimately, you have to say that Union did well against us. They gave us barely any space and we often lacked the necessary power going forward. We lacked a little rhythm in our game. You have to be honesty and say we didn’t have a good day. It wasn’t a good game for us. 

How important was it to have Marcus Thuram and Alassane Plea back in the starting XI again?

Sommer: It’s important for all of us, but of course those two are ones who scored most of our goals last season and they also add a lot of power to our game. Overall, it’s important that the squad is more complete again and that we have more options. We need that as a team.

How was it to play in front of 10,000 fans again? 

Sommer: That was wonderful. And it made a difference, because the fans were constantly creating an atmosphere. It’s a huge step when you consider how many months we have had to play without fans now. It feels good to at least have some of the fans back in the stadium.

You made your 200th Bundesliga appearance for Borussia against Union Berlin. Was it special for you, or just like any other game? 

Sommer: Obviously it’s special to play 200 Bundesliga matches for a club like Borussia. I feel honoured and proud. It makes you think back on everything that has happened in the last few years. It’s already my seventh season with the club. Everything we as a team have experienced together, the achievements and successes, as well as the defeats – all of that goes through your head and it makes a milestone like this very special. 

Sommer: Generally, we always try to prepare ourselves to perform to our absolute limit. But the derby – and the week building up to it – is something special. I’m so excited for this explosive match, because there’s so much at stake. We want to crack on and really get our season under way with a win. We’ll need a really top performance to do that.