On finishing third in the league phase and qualifying for the last 16…
It’s what you want if you start the Champions League season – you want to finish top eight. That helps, of course, because you skip a round and sometimes you can have a really hard team to play against in a round like that, which is shown by the teams you just mentioned. So, we are happy that we are going straight away to the last 16, especially because it’s only two years ago that we were playing Europa League and we went out in the quarter-finals against Atalanta. So, two seasons in a row now being in the last 16, and last season we were very hungry for more and we will definitely be hungry for more this season as well.
On being better in ‘both boxes’…
That was an obvious improvement. We have all the respect for the team we faced tonight, [but] I expect Newcastle to be a stronger side than Qarabag – although Qarabag showed this season that they’ve been a very good team. But still, we hardly conceded anything. There weren’t six, seven or eight minutes where the other team was better than us, and that’s the maximum usually in our games – the other team is better than us and then we always concede. But today we made sure there were no minutes that the other team were better than us and that always helps.
I think set-pieces played a vital role in our Champions League campaign until now and tonight again, because the 1-0 was a set-piece and the 3-0 was a set-piece. That gives a complete different look and feel to a game. All of a sudden, you’re 3-0 up and then people are usually much more positive than a 1-0 lead. Very positive about our game, very clinical in both boxes – although after the 2-0 I think we had multiple chances to make it three.
But we hardly gave away a chance and in the 92nd minute you could see, when they had maybe their first and only counter-attack of the second half, how much effort we put in to sprint back – Federico Chiesa, my No.9, was defending inside the six-yard box. I’ve said recently, if we can improve in both boxes, it’s going to be very hard for any team to play against us. But showing that once is not enough – we have to show this from now on constantly.
On whether the injuries in the squad mean he would consider ’emergency or loan’ options in the transfer market…
We as a club always make decisions that we, at least, think [are] smart decisions. So, we not only look at the short term, we also look at the long term, longer term – that’s why we sign young players as well, very good players but young ones that can still develop. Now we can see this development with a few. And it always depends on are there players available that we think can help us? And if they are, can we afford them? And does this also be helpful for the longer-term future because our players come back from injury as well?
I just said we don’t have a squad where we have four right-backs and 12 midfielders and three or four No.9s – that’s not how it works over here. So, we have to do the smart things for the near future but also for the longer future. Let’s first see how Jeremie [Frimpong] is. Maybe he’s not able to play Saturday but maybe he’s able to play one or two days later. We now go into a schedule with one game a week, so that would usually mean less injuries but you’re never sure.
