Despite ending his own 1196-minute goal drought, Huntelaar said victory was what matters most against Stuttgart
Despite ending his own 1196-minute goal drought, Huntelaar said victory was what matters most against Stuttgart

Huntelaar: 'We believed in ourselves'

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Gelsenkirchen - It's impossible to expect everyone to go home happy following a game as emotionally draining as FC Schalke 04's topsy-turvy 3-2 win at home to bottom club VfB Stuttgart.

FC Schalke 04

bundesliga.com rounds up what some of the players from both camps made of the contest...

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar: "Obviously it’s great that I scored again, but the win was more important. I knew I’d score again soon, but you just never know when. It’s a lot to do with belief - confidence and belief that comes from the team. We’ve shown great character, even when things haven’t been going as well as we’d have liked. The atmosphere in the stadium was also really special, but we kept fighting. We still had it in us to make it 3-2 after we equalised at 2-2. We believed in ourselves and made it happen."

Benedikt Höwedes: "Even though we hadn’t won for a while, we showed fantastic morale, but we can still go up a level. It was really important to take all three points. Everyone’s just so relieved - those on the pitch and in the stands. You couldn’t expect us to play the perfect game, but we did a good job until their equaliser for 1-1. We’d been playing well until then and then Stuttgart go and score with their first chance. That was tough to take and a knock to our self-confidence. We’re all happy that we were able to turn it around. The substitutions gave us a bit of momentum to go on and pick up three really, really important points. It wasn’t easy on the eye, but it was a battle right until the end and we came through it."

Julian Draxler "It wasn’t easy for us because Stuttgart made it 1-1 with their first chance. I really wish we would take the lead and then build on it."

VfB Stuttgart


Daniel Ginczek: "We didn't start well - we played poorly and left too many gaps. Then something changed for us and we were the better team after making it 1-1 - just like we were against Wolfsburg and Augsburg. We could have taken the lead at that point and even made it 3-1 if we'd have done more with the ball. But again we go away empty handed - it's tough to take. There are three games left, only nine points and we need something from them to survive."

Martin Harnik: "After such a bad start, it's crazy that as the league's bottom club we were able to turn the game, get back into it and create chances, even if we didn't do that enough towards the end. Once again we shot ourselves in the foot by making mistakes - in attack and at the back. In the end, though, we shouldn't be coming away empty handed after a performance like that."