Stuttgart coach Huub Stevens saw the gap widen between his side and the relegation zone, but it was nothing more than 'one step' closer to safety
Stuttgart coach Huub Stevens saw the gap widen between his side and the relegation zone, but it was nothing more than 'one step' closer to safety

Stevens: 'It was one step, but no more than that'

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Munich - It was another difficult weekend to be sitting on the bench with the tension now getting greater and greater as the Bundesliga season nears its conclusion.

bundesliga.com listened in to what the coaches had to say about their teams' performances this weekend...
VfB Stuttgart 3-1 FC Schalke 04Huub Stevens (Stuttgart): We showed today that we're fighting and sticking together, and that we can also beat better opponents. Schalke were far better than us today and we were too tense to start with. But we took our chances and had the luck we needed. It was one step, but no more than that.

Jens Keller (Schalke): I didn't think it was possible for us to lose here given the way we played in the first 20 minutes, but we just weren't incisive enough going forwards and we couldn't make the breakthrough.
1. FC Nürnberg 1-4 Bayer 04 LeverkusenGertjan Verbeek (Nürnberg): We had to take the game to them and that just made it easier for Leverkusen as they could hit us on the break. If we had taken the lead, then maybe it would have looked better for us. We've just got to move on and do better next week.

Sascha Lewandowski (Leverkusen): Overall, this was a deserved win for us. We managed to finish off our counterattacks well in the second half, and that's what I would have wanted in the first half too. We've now won two in a row for the first time in a while, but we've got to keep our feet on the ground.
Eintracht Braunschweig 0-2 FC Bayern MünchenTorsten Lieberknecht (Braunschweig): I think my team deserved a point. They showed great heart and passion for 75 minutes, but we just didn't have what it took to maintain that for the full 90 minutes. We wanted points to beat the drop, but unfortunately we didn't get them.

Pep Guardiola (Bayern): It's not easy for us having already clinced the Bundesliga title, but despite it being difficult today, we fought well. Braunschweig showed a lot of heart and passion and that made it hard for us. In the second half, we controlled the game more. We won, so we're happy, but we're not going to reach the final of the Champions League if we don't play a great game against Real Madrid.
Borussia Dortmund 4-2 1. FSV Mainz 05Jürgen Klopp (Dortmund): My lads were absolutely amazing today. We overcame our inner tiredness after about three minutes, and once we'd burst through that barrier, we never stopped running. On top of that, we scored some great goals against great opponents.

Thomas Tuchel (Mainz): Borussia deserved the win. We knew that we were going to have to do something approaching our very best to have a chance here, so this is not a result which is going to cause me too much concern.
Hamburger SV 1-3 VfL WolfsburgMirko Slomka (Hamburg): We had to change everything again due to the players we had missing, and of course that disrupts the team, who aren't exactly brimming with confidence right now. Then to make matters worse, we concede early on. We're going to keep on fighting in the coming weeks.

Dieter Hecking (Wolfsburg): It wasn't easy for us after the Dortmund game, but we desperately wanted to win. The early goal was refreshing for us and we should have scored four or five after that.
Eintracht Frankfurt 2-3 Hannover 96Armin Veh (Frankfurt): I didn't have a good feeling even before this game. We played as if we are already safe. I reminded everybody before our last game that we're not safe yet, but clearly I was just speaking to myself.

Tayfun Korkut (Hannover): This was a very, very important win for us, but we're not safe yet mathematically. The team played a great game and really deserved to win. I'm proud to be coach of such a team. We really should have finished them off sooner.