Farfan: 'An important step'
Hamburg - Jefferson Farfan appears to have picked up at the start of the Rückrunde where he left off at the end of 2013. The Peru international, who scored four goals in as many league games for FC Schalke 04 before the winter break, netted once and provided two assists in the Royal Blues’ 3-0 victory at Hamburger SV on Sunday.
After the match at the Imtech Arena, Farfan spoke exclusively to bundesliga.com about Klaas-Jan Huntelaar’s goalscoring return, Schalke’s aims for the second half of the season and their upcoming encounter with fellow European hopefuls VfL Wolfsburg.
bundesliga.com: Congratulations on the victory, Mr Farfan. During the first half, it didn't really look like Schalke would win, did it?
Jefferson Farfan: Yes, it was a very close and tight game in the first 45 minutes, but after our first goal, we used the space that presented itself and finally sealed the win.
bundesliga.com: You now have seven goals and four assists to your name, things could hardly be better for you right now!
Farfan: That’s right. I thank god that I'm in such good form of late. I’m just trying to give my all for the club.
bundesliga.com: The same can be said of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. What do you think about his magnificent comeback?
Farfan: Klaas-Jan is an amazing striker. We really missed him in our games [before the winter break]. Now he comes back after six months out and scores in his first game. He's amazing.
bundesliga.com: Was there even more pressure to win after your rivals slipped up on Matchday 18.
Farfan: No. We knew that, with a win, we'd be taking an important step. We had enough confidence and fortunately we managed to get three points against HSV.
bundesliga.com: Did coach Jens Keller talk to the players a lot during the winter break?
Farfan: Yes, very much. We worked really hard. We knew that we didn’t give our best performances in the first half of the season and that we need to up our game for the second half of the campaign. We managed to do so in our first game back.
bundesliga.com: And will you be able to do that in your next match against VfL Wolfsburg?
Farfan: That will be a difficult game, but our goal is to beat VfL in our next match.
Interview by Michael Reis
