"Of course it was highly emotional"

Shinji Kagawa: “in the first half especially I had the feeling that the way we enjoy playing and our dynamics – which distinguishes us – are back again at long last. We were highly motivated. I really felt there was a real team spirit within the team. We played a great game. Of course the scenes after the game were highly emotional. Now we want to go and win the Cup next week. I have already experienced that once before, it was a wonderful experience. This way we can give Jürgen Klopp and Sebastian Kehl a great farewell present and ride the bus around the Borsigplatz again – that was just brilliant in 2012.”

Erik Durm: “Of course it was very emotional after the game. The Head Coach has always given everything for this club and also for us players. Of course we always tried to repay him. The pictures after the game were very touching, this does mean a lot to you. We are very happy that we won and that we could give the Head Coach such a well deserved farewell present. Now we have one more game. We want to win that too. For the Gaffer, for the club, for us. Of course it is also our aim to qualify straight for the Europa League. Now we are seventh in the league, so we would have to go through the qualification rounds. If we win the Cup we will qualify straight for the group phase.”

Henrikh Mkhitaryan: “we really played a good game today. Especially for Sebastian Kehl and Jürgen Klopp. From that point of view we are all of course very satisfied. I had a phase in this season when I was not playing so well. But I always believed in myself and I worked hard. That’s paying for itself now. I thank my team and my Head Coach that they always believed in me. I hope that things will continue to improve in the future.” (djg)