After the game against Mainz 05, BVB’s two holding midfielders, Oliver Kirch and Nuri Sahin, met with the media and shared their thoughts on the match. Both were very pleased about the win and the team’s performance. In a double interview, they talked about the controversial first goal as well as the back pass that led to Mainz’s second goal.

Oliver, the ball hit your arm before it went into the net for the first goal. Was it handball?

Kirch: No, it wasn’t. I touched the ball with my arm, but it wasn’t away from my body. I wanted to get out of the way and turned away from the ball. I don’t know whether the goal will be awarded to Milos or me.

Nuri, you made a poor back pass that helped Mainz to score the equaliser to make it 2-2. How did you see it?

Sahin: This has happened a thousand times all over the world; I’ve seen it a thousand times on television. Now I experienced it first-hand. It’s an experience I could do without but that’s part of football. I didn’t see Okazaki, but this shouldn’t have happened. I was ready to sink into the earth with shame but decided to keep on playing my football and I think I succeeded. I’m of course very happy that we won the game in the end.

What exactly were you thinking, and did the quick third goal help you to get over it?

Sahin: My first thought was, ‘What do I do now?  Sink into the earth or continue playing?’ When I looked at the clock and saw that there are still 25 minutes to play, I said to myself: ‘Okay, keep going and play your game.’ And I think I succeeded in doing that.

BVB are guaranteed a top-three finish. How happy are you about it?

Kirch: Third place was our minimum goal at the start of the season, which we have achieved now. The remaining goal now is to secure second place, and to achieve that we will have to go into the next Bundesliga games like we did against Mainz.

Sahin: It was important to secure automatic qualification as early as possible, and we are happy to have achieved that goal. Now we want to secure second place – and win the cup!

Nuri, a word on your midfield partner Oliver Kirch who at the age of 30 is having an Indian summer and putting himself into consideration with great performances?

Sahin: There’s not only Olii, but also Julian Schieber. Both played little football for a long time, but got on with their job – which certainly wasn’t easy- in a professional manner. Olli has developed greatly, and we are very happy about it. We are good friends both on and off the pitch. We need every single player.

A lot of people predicted that the team would lose focus after this tough schedule in the last few weeks. But you have proved them wrong…

Kirch: We talked about it before the game, and as a team, we have the ambition to win games like this one. And that’s what we proved on the pitch.

Sahin: It’s impossible in football to go full throttle all the time. We’ve also been through spells this season where we didn’t do well, and now we are in one where we are doing well. We are running a lot, we are scoring goals, and we are giving our all. This spell is great fun, and that’s why we are not losing focus.