Ricardo Rodriguez was critical of Wolfsburg's complacency at the start of the game, but was pleased to take away a point - © © imago / Horstmüller
Ricardo Rodriguez was critical of Wolfsburg's complacency at the start of the game, but was pleased to take away a point - © © imago / Horstmüller

Rodriguez: 'We definitely wanted to win'

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Cologne - Following their 1-1 draw on Matchday 2 it seemed that both the 1. FC Köln and VfL Wolfsburg players were battling with mixed emotions.

VfL Wolfsburg

bundesliga.com rounds up the post-match thoughts of those players at the heart of the action on Saturday...

Ricardo Rodriguez: “Simply put we didn’t start well. Up until about the 60th minute we weren’t good. After that we finally started playing a bit of football and things started to work out, but that has to be the case right from the start of the match, not so late on in an encounter. We made it 1-1, we wanted to win, but that’s football. We had chances with time winding down, but we’re satisfied with a 1-1 draw. However, we definitely wanted to win.”

Timm Klose: “Right after half time they had a chance where they could have scored another goal. They didn’t manage to do that and you could see that there it sent a pulse through the team and of course you don’t want to lose. That’s what it’s all about. In the end we probably could’ve even won the game, but we were missing that little bit of luck. We’ve got to make sure luck is on our side going forward. That’s important. We always talk of luck or misfortune. We claim that when you’re at the top you have luck, but that’s not true in my opinion. You’ve just got to work hard to make sure luck is on your side when it comes to the deciding moments like at the end of the game for us today, so that the ball ends up in the back of the net.”

1. FC Köln

Daniel Caligiuri: “I was eagerly anticipating the game like always and I wanted to inject a bit of pace into the game and I think that worked out really well following my substitution into the game. Bas [Dost] flicked the ball on well, it looped up over [Jonas] Hector and my aim was simply to hit the target, which is always important. I struck the ball well. My first thought was that Nicklas [Bendtner] was offside, but he wasn’t and fortunately we were able to make it 1-1. The important thing is that we took a point home with us today even though we could have made it 2-1 through Kevin [De Bruyne] late on.”

Kevin Vogt: “I’ve left the pitch irritated by the result and I don’t think I’m the only one. However, I don’t think it’s a bad thing, even against [last year’s runners up and DFB Cup winner] Wolfsburg, if you leave the pitch not knowing whether you’re really pleased with a draw. Of course if we took a step back you’d say that taking a point against such a good team is a good thing. We had a chance to make it two, but it’s still difficult to claim that would have put the game to bed against a side like this. Unfortunately we weren’t able to extend our lead and defending against such quality for the rest of the game is never easy. At the end of the day the result is okay.”

Dominique Heintz: “You’re definitely a little disappointed because when you see the way the game played out we were definitely the better team for long periods of the game. We had two or three great chances to grab a second where their goalkeeper [Koen Casteels] made some great saves, but ultimately we can live with the result. We player exceptionally well against a UEFA Champions League and DFB Cup winning side. We pressed them really well in their own half and the way we’ve played is a big compliment to our work ethic. I’m pleased to have taken four points from the first two games.”

Simon Zoller: “We knew that we could capitalise on the gap between midfield and defence, especially with Tony [Anthony Modeste] flicking the balls on. He read the situation well and everything after that fell into place for me which I’m delighted about. It’s a great feeling to be out on the pitch and accepted by the fans because it gives me a lot of confidence, but isn’t something I assume will happen. I know to treasure it. I’m looking forward to getting out there again next week.”