"Completely unnecessary" was Kevin Kampl's verdict of the two goals his side conceded at the beginning of each half against Wolfsburg. "That can't happen," he declared, before casting a glance forward to the two "finals" - first against Bremen in the Bundesliga and then against Wolfsburg in the DFB Cup final in Berlin.

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Kampl battles with Perisic.

Kevin, it was a spirited encounter played at a high tempo. Why were you not able to pick up any points?
We conceded goals far too early on in each half. We can't allow that to happen, we need to be more alert. It was completely unnecessary.

Was that something you spoke about at half time?
We said to ourselves at half time that we needed to beware of their set-pieces. Then we went straight back out there and conceded a goal directly from a corner. That can't happen. The game would've been quite different if we'd stopped those two goals. That's how you lose a game.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan was felled in the penalty area shortly before half time. Was that a penalty?
It all happened so fast and I was standing relatively far away so I couldn't really see what happened. I think I'd need to have another look at it before I cast a judgement.

"A great way to round off the second half of the season"

So next week you've got the "final" against Bremen…
The one good thing is that nothing has changed in the table. We've still got a final to play. It's the last-ever home game for both our coach and Sebastian Kehl, so it'll be something quite special. We want to wrap up our Europa League qualification berth for next season.

And there's another game after that too…
Yes. Well first of all, we obviously want to round off our great Bundesliga catch-up since the winter break. And then after that there's another highlight in the DFB Cup final. We now have two really important matches awaiting us. We need to give it everything we've got.

What conclusions can be drawn from that game with regard to the Cup final?
Both teams did some strong counter-pressing. That means that spaces open up. The team that makes the best use of these spaces will ultimately win. It'll be very much an equal affair, you saw that today. Wolfsburg didn't overwhelm us. We just switched off for the early goals.

"We want to make history"

Was that a dress rehearsal?
No. The DFB Cup final is something quite different. It'll be a match played on neutral ground, but we'll definitely have a lot of our fans there. History has often been made in the Cup. I hope that we can do that this year. (djg)