"We battled as a team – even when we were down a man," said Manuel Akanji of a match in which BVB were reduced to 10 men shortly before half-time. Julian Brandt and Thorgan Hazard also spoke to BVB.TV following the 2-1 victory in Berlin.

Julian Brandt: "We moved the ball about very well in the first half. We were ruthless with the chances from which we scored our goals. That puts you in a good position. We got our reward relatively early. But then we gave ourselves a few problems we could've avoided by conceding an unlucky goal and having a player sent off. That meant that in the second half, we had to play very defensively and very patiently, approach the little possession we had very carefully and try to carve out one or two opportunities for ourselves. It's a step in the right direction when you manage to hold onto the result in the second 45 minutes and show that you can defend your goal and that you want to win the match."

Manuel Akanji: "It wasn't easy today, but we battled as a team – even when we were down a man. We noticed in the first period that Hertha were playing very aggressively with lots of challenges. We had to prepare ourselves for even more of that in the second half. But we held our own well as a team and that's partly why we got the three points."

Thorgan Hazard: It's always good to score a goal. Today was my second for BVB, but I think I'm capable of more and I hope I can score even more goals in the next few weeks. It was a superb pass from Achraf and an easy finish."
Transcribed by Christina Reinke