“It was about time I saved a penalty”

Rune Jarstein, Vedad Ibisevic, Karim Rekik, Niklas Stark, Maximilian Mittelstädt, Dennis Jastrzembski and Valentino Lazaro gave their thoughts following the 1-0 victory over Nürnberg. Talking points included: the penalty stop and what it means to pick up the first three points of the season.

All the Hertha players know who they have to thanks after 90 tough minutes at the start of the new season, that man is Rune Jarstein. The keeper denied Mikael Ishak from the penalty spot and thereby secured the 1-0 win over 1. FC Nürnberg. “50% of this win is solely down to Rune,” remarked Vedad Ibisevic after the game. The new three-man defensive line worked well and the team looked united. herthabsc.de gives you all the reactions:

Rune Almenning Jarstein: Finally! I haven’t saved a penalty for a long time. I told myself it was about time that I should stop one. Whether it should have been a penalty or not, I can’t comment since I couldn´t really see what happened. In any case, it was important to get the three points. This win has given us a lot of confidence at the start of the season, particularly since we are a very young team.

Vedad Ibisevic: An opening win is always important. I’m happy I was able to help my team out by getting a goal, but really it was thanks to the great build-up play by Tino that made things very easy for me. The goal was only half of it; the rest of the win was down to Rune and his penalty stop.

Karim Rekik: The first game of the season is always difficult, particularly if you’ve got a new formation like us. Of course there are areas where we need to improve, but overall we are just glad to have got the three points. With regards to the penalty, the ball just brushed my fingertips; I didn’t reach out for it. It’s not up to me to judge whether it’s a penalty or not. And luckily I don’t have to anyway considering Rune managed to keep it out.

Valentino Lazaro: As an outfield player your job is to always look to feed the striker. Luckily, today I managed to get the ball to Vedad. As a team we could have played better on the ball though. Nevertheless, we got the win, most of all thanks to Rune. We are just glad to get the three points. It was also nice to get back to playing Bundesliga football. Now we just have to analysis the game and see where we can improve. My injury isn’t major; I just picked up a knock when trying to control the ball. Since it’s the start of the season, I knew I wanted to play the full 90 minutes.

Niklas Stark: It was a special but unusual feeling to play against my old club. At the end of the day though, I’m just happy to have got the win. We wanted to stay strong at the back. We were also playing in a new formation which didn’t work right from the off; that’s normal though. The Nürnberg team played very physically; just like they did in the second league last season. It will be interesting to see what kind of season they have. As long as they don’t beat us, of course!

Dennis Jastrzembski: I’m very happy to have made my Bundesliga debut. I was, of course, really looking forward to this moment. You’ve just got to block out all that though and play your best in the moment. I had a chance on goal in injury time. I really should have done better. It was a tough game that we had to win.

Maximilian Mittelstädt: We’re very happy to have made a successful start to the season. We knew that it wouldn’t be an easy game; Nürnberg played aggressive football and made life tough for us. Now though, we can go home happy and look back and analyse everything. Personally, things couldn’t be going any better for me. My new role on the field is a change for me. I normally play left back but the coach now trusts me to go forward. I’m going try my best to pay back the faith the he has shown in me.