"Very relieved, but also proud": Quotes from Wolfsburg players after key win in Hamburg

YANNICK GERHARDT

**Regarding the club developing consistency:** “I am very relieved, but also proud. After all the bad weeks, the ultimately poor matches that awaited us, we have stabilised now and we were ready at the push of a button for this very important match where we could have also lost everything. But I had a very good feeling from the start; I have seen in recent weeks that we have regained our compactness, that we have better practices, we have better form, confidence, individual players - and I am glad that we were able to show that today. And even though the match became close again at times, where Pauli managed to equalise, we remained calm and implemented our game plan well.” **When asked about the feeling within the club surrounding the victory:** “Of course, goosebumps. Sure, in the end, you want to play for trophies, to have such important matches - but in the end, we have to take it as it comes. I think that in these difficult moments, you also realise that in the end, everyone is there and only wants the best for us. Not only the fans were there, but also the injured players in the stands cheering us on - and I think it shows that we are not written off, but sticking together, that we have a great chance of succeeding in the relegation playoff.” **Regarding how this is different from his previous relegation playoff experiences with Wolfsburg:** “I already have some experience with relegation playoffs, unfortunately. But this time it is completely different in terms of approach; we knew that this was our minimum goal and we achieved it. That is why we are rather positive and grateful that we have two more chances to stay in the Bundesliga, regardless of who we face. I am simply looking at what we have developed over the last few weeks, and that is why I am very optimistic that we can defeat anyone.”

CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN

**Regarding the Wolfsburg performance:** “I think that we showed maturity in our game. I think that we stick to our plan and I think we play a really good game over. We were good on the ball, good defensively and obviously, scoring from set pieces always helps in a match like this to open it up - but even in open play with a lot of chances, we played a strong game.” **Looking forward to the coming weeks:** “Obviously we reached our first goal, which was to get to these two playoff matches because of the situation that we are in. We have two more matches going into the next two weeks, but that is what we wanted and it will be our next step.” **On the atmosphere at Millerntor-Stadion and the travelling fans:** “I want to thank our fans, I think that they really showed up in numbers, which really helped us; even before the match, we could feel that our fans were out there singing and that everyone was looking at things positively. But I think that in general, I think it was an amazing atmosphere for both teams, a nice match to play - and of course, respect to Pauli, their stadium and the atmosphere was also great.”