"Schalke found the better solutions at the decisive moments"

Peter Stöger on the balance of play:
"Congratulations to Schalke, who deserved to win the match. There were some situations in the match where we needed to show penetration going forward. Schalke defended them well. They utilised their few attacking opportunities differently to us. Of course, they benefited from our individual errors too. On the whole, they found the better solutions at the decisive moments. If that happens in a game like this, you'll end up on the losing side."

…on the starting formation:
"We believe that the team put in a really good performance in the match last week. That's why we made the decision that we would give the same starting XI the chance to play this match. It was about showing the lads that we believed in them. Of course, we had other players who did not make the line-up who have the quality to be starting games."

…on Michy Batshuayi's injury:
"I didn't think it looked like the kind of injury that he would be back from quickly. I hope, of course, that I'm mistaken. I can't yet say anything specific, other than the fact that he's in pain and will now be examined in more detail. Hopefully it's not as bad as it looks."

…on Schalke's good organisation this season:
"We had possession, we found spaces and got into semi-dangerous areas. But Schalke were just very good defensively in the very dangerous areas. That wasn't something new in the game against us. They deserve to be where they are, because they're simply doing things really well at the moment. They're extremely well-organised and have players like Naldo, who manages to thwart a lot of potentially dangerous situations. Especially when you go behind, it tends to be very difficult against a team that is so well-organised." (djg)