Holtby: 'We all believed we could do it'
Hamburg - The Hamburger SV players breathed a collective sigh of relief after salvaging a place in the relegation play-offs thanks to an impassioned 2-0 win at home to despondent FC Schalke 04.
Hamburger SV
bundesliga.com has the reaction from a largely jubilant Imtech Arena...
Lewis Holtby: 'I was getting butterflies here and there. It was an emotional rollercoaster, I can barely describe it. I'm relieved that we [made it into the play-offs]. We all believed we could do it - the families, the fans and the whole team, everyone that works here. The will and belief paid off. Today the team and the whole club were fantastic. Now we have to regroup and go into [the play-offs] with full focus."
Gojko Kacar: "Right now it feels good. We want to make the most of the opportunity - we've only got two games to maintain our place in the division. We've been under pressure in every game and it's still no different, that's for sure. I'm happy with my performance today, but above all with the team's. If we play like that, we can beat anyone. Walking out at the stadium today gave you goosebumps. The fans gave us such a good reception. We were able to give something back to them and that's what we want to keep on doing."
Rene Adler: "I wouldn't exactly say we’re happy, as such, but at least we've got over the first hurdle and now we need to make sure we win [the play-off]. We need to do our homework - beyond that we can't influence things. But we got there, under massive pressure, and that's really brought us together. We've got two games now and we're going to win them too."
Johan Djourou: "We put in a good performance today - for us, for our families, the fans and the city. Now we have to do it again in the relegation play-offs. We've been here before, but this year we're in a better place. If you take out the Stuttgart game, we've been playing well - that wasn't the case last year. Today we were really calm and full of confidence. We played patiently and in the end the goals came. We now have to give everything again over two games."
FC Schalke 04
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar: "The wind was knocked out of our sails a bit after Hamburg scored. Before that, the game was evenly balanced. It was typical of the game that both goals came from set-pieces. The result is a catastrophe for us. We don’t need to look at events in Mönchengladbach [where FC Augsburg won 3-1]. We had it in our own hands to defend fifth place. We didn't manage to do that. We've not done enough all season. We haven’t managed to perform to the level we’re capable of this season. That’s why we also failed to achieve what we set out to do and have ended the season in sixth place."
Ralf Fährmann: "We wanted to win, but failed to do so. That’s pretty much the mood inside the camp. I can’t explain the performance. It just hurts that the fans have to witness another performance like that. I can only apologise for it. It was rubbish. We have to take to the pitch like men again. The entire second half of the season was poor."
