Höwedes: 'It certainly is a great feeling'
Gelsenkirchen – A win with a goal - Benedikt Höwedes' comeback was the stuff of legends. The Schalke captain was not as pleased as one might expect when he spoke to reporters after his side's last-gasp 2-1 win over Hertha Berlin, however.
bundesliga.com listened in to what the German international had to say…
Question: Benedikt Höwedes, it was a last-minute win which saw an outpouring of emotions – do you like winning this way?
Benedikt Höwedes: No, but it certainly is a great feeling. When you get the decisive winning goal in the 90th minute, the whole Arena goes crazy, but the fans had been behind us resolutely even before this goal, even when we were a bit careless at times with an extra man. We've got to ask ourselves what went wrong there and deal with it better in future. But what mattered was that we put a lot into the last ten minutes and built up a head of steam, forcing this winning goal, even if perhaps it was not thoroughly deserved.
Question: Do you have an explanation for that?
Höwedes: We just didn't want to go the extra yard and we thought we'd get by anyway. But things don't work like that! I don't want to sound too negative, but you do need to find a few warning words from time to time. Still, we've won and we've celebrated as a team. You can see how we're growing together, when the coach and the whole bench race onto the field to celebrate with us. You can see we're a strong unit.
Question: How important was this win also in view of the coming games against Gladbach, Dortmund and Bayern?
Höwedes: Well it's certainly not going to get any easier for us, which is why it's great to get some more self-confidence in the bank. Of course we've got some tough matches coming our way, but if we continue to do things right consistently, then we're also going to stand a better chance of holding our own in these matches, and who knows then what might happen.
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