Niklas Stark takes on Erling Haaland
First team | March 13, 2021, 09:32 PM

"Nothing else matters"

Even though Pál Dárdai’s gameplan worked for most of the match, especially in the first half, our lads are heading home empty-handed. Our team defended smartly in Dortmund, showing heart and making sacrifices throughout. Only a goal from distance and another in injury time saw Dortmund to a 2-0 win. “We have to look at ourselves, both at the back and going forwards. We did better at putting together attacks in the first half. In the second, things got more difficult for us,” said Niklas Stark. Our captain has issued a command to his team. “We simply have to get points in the next few matches. Nothing else matters!” herthabsc.de sums up the match reaction.

Niklas Stark: We have to look at ourselves, both at the back and going forwards. Overall we didn’t manage to make a dent going forwards. In the first half we did better, in the second we found things more difficult. We had to defend a lot and that’s hard to do over a long period of time. Rune is a great goalkeeper who saved us in the first half and has been a rock at the back in recent weeks, so we obviously can’t criticise him. We simply have to get points in the next few games. Nothing else matters. A fight for survival is a mental thing and we have to strike the right balance between staying calm and being switched on.

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We are a team and we win and lose together. We need the points and we’ll do all we can to get them.
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-Krzysztof Piątek

Lukas Klünter: We are disappointed, obviously. In the first half you could see that a lot of things worked for us. We focused on being secure and not letting things past. Because we were under pressure at the back though, we weren’t able to get forwards often enough. We were lacking that final punch and without that you will never win in Dortmund. It’s often said that our team shouldn’t be in a relegation battle but I don’t understand that. We’ve shown quite the opposite. But obviously now we have to get points. We will take the positive from this game and turn it into something tangible in Leverkusen. About the sending off: Vladi will blame himself for a few days, for sure, but he’s a great guy and unfortunately things like this happen in football. There was no intent there though.

Krzysztof Piątek: BVB are a top team, they play with a lot of aggression and they’re really hard to play against. It was a big challenge for our defence but we had a good plan. Dortmund may have had a lot of the ball, but they didn’t get in behind often. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to make that final pass in our attacks to get into positions to score a goal. Their goal was really unlucky – we did well up until that point. Maybe Rune could have saved it, but he kept the scores level in the first half. We are a team and we win and lose together. We should have blocked the shot anyway. That’s how things go in football sometimes – we’ll stay positive though. It’s important that we keep going and try to be successful again in the coming games. We need the points and we’ll do all we can to get them.

by Hertha BSC