Coach Jürgen Klopp, sporting director Michael Zorc, captain Sebastian Kehl and goal-scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang shared their thoughts on Tuesday’s cup win.

Jürgen Klopp: “The first half was clearly ours, and overall we played really well for 70 minutes. Unfortunately, we lacked a clear pattern in our play in the opening 20 minutes of the second half. There were also a lot of interruptions which got us out of our rhythm. But Frankfurt also did very well here and created some chances themselves. We have worked hard on set pieces in training and now it has worked out for us two games in a row. This is very important. You could tell that we really wanted to get to the final.”

Michael Zorc: “We are very happy that we won. It was a very difficult game, also considering our constant injury problems. Overall, the team did a very good job, and created a lot chances, especially in the first half. We lost a bit of our shape at the start of the second half, but improved later on again. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang seems to be the man for the important goals, today he even scored with a header. Henrikh Mikhitaryan also played very well, and often provided relief.”

Sebastian Kehl: “The situation before the game wasn’t easy for us. We knew it would be a hard-fought game. Frankfurt were fired up, and played attacking football. We were prepared for it. That gave us space to play that led to many chances. Unfortunately, we only took one of them, but overall it was a deserved win for us. Frankfurt did well, but we had the better chances. We are very happy, it was an important win.”

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: “I’m very happy about my goal as we had to work very hard for it. It was a difficult game, so we can be very happy about this win. There’s a lot of quality in the squad. We can achieve much more if we stick together. If we –like today – play with a knife between our teeth and fight until we drop we can go far in every competition.”