"We ground out a famous win”

Marko Grujic, goalscorer Vladimir Darida, Rune Jarstein and Vedad Ibisevic were relieved after the 1-0 win over Freiburg, but also know that this win was only the first step in getting the season back on track.

No matter where you looked in the minutes after the final whistle - there was only one feeling on the face of every Herthaner: relief! No wonder, after all, the capital city club won in the Bundesliga for the first time since the beginning of October! "It was very important that we got the three points," said Vladimir Darida, who secured the fourth win of the season, the first under Jürgen Klinsmann, with his goal. We summarised all the reactions from the mixed zone.

Vladimir Darida: It was very important that we got three points! Our play has improved a little in each of the past three games, now we have rewarded ourselves with some points. Sometimes football can be simple, like my goal. A one-two, a shot. I hope that we gain a bit of confidence with the win, because we still have two difficult games left in Leverkusen and against Mönchengladbach. We want to improve and continue to score.

Rune Jarstein: It’s great to have kept a clean sheet and, above all, to have won. We needed it! The coach told us at half-time that we should be a little braver, and we did that. We played better football and luckily Vladi scored a nice goal. I hope that the victory will give us confidence now going forward so we can improve step by step. The fans were amazing! We have to take the positives from this game with us to Leverkusen to continue getting points, because we are still too close to the bottom.

Marko Grujic: It was an incredibly difficult game for us in which we rewarded ourselves for the hard work we’ve been putting in on the training ground with the new coaching staff. We knew that Freiburg would be a strong opponent with a good mentality - I think we ground out a famous win here. The three points are extremely important because we now have two tough opponents ahead of us in Leverkusen and Mönchengladbach.

Vedad Ibisevic: It wasn’t going well for a long time, but this win feels amazing - football is only fun if you win. We showed a great mentality against Freiburg, defended well and kept the clean sheet. We know that our game can be expanded going forward. But in this situation, points count and we needed to grind out this win. We hope that this success will give us a boost, but of course we can’t be satisfied with 15 points. Of course, personally I was pleased that the coach gave me the chance, but above all I want the team to do well and to win.