Guido Burgstaller: Always a great feeling to score

The Knappen managed to take a point at Bayer Leverkusen (11/5) on Saturday, mainly thanks to a strong second-half performance. S04 could have taken the lead, but missed the chance from the penalty spot. Despite that, the players and head coach agreed that a point was fair. schalke04.de has summarised the post-match reactions.

Huub Stevens:

We didn’t start the game well, which was partly down to Leverkusen and partly down to ourselves. We were okay defensively; however we made too many mistakes which you cannot afford to make. Thankfully we cut the majority of these mistakes out in the second half. We didn’t lose the ball as much, were more aggressive and up for it. The first half belonged to Leverkusen, but we then showed what we’re capable of in the second half. We made it difficult for them after the break.

Peter Bosz:

We are disappointed with the result. Our first half performance was acceptable, but nothing special. We then played poorly in the second period, meaning that we only got a draw. We have reached the Europa League, which was our main aim, so we can be happy with ourselves. Everything is still possible because of the other results. If we win in Berlin, we could perhaps reach the Champions League. We will put everything we can into that game.

Omar Mascarell:

We barely got into the game in the first half an hour and had some problems. We then fought back well and were compact defensively. We’ve won a point away against a team who are trying to qualify for the Champions League. We said to ourselves at the break that we could fight back – and that’s just what we did. We have one more game to go, which we’d like to win for our amazing fans.

Bastian Oczipka:

Leverkusen were the better team during the first half, and we were chasing after them a bit. A game like that can change very quickly in the second half. We scored, and had a chance to take the lead with the penalty. We could have been given a second penalty, and had more chances towards the end. We didn’t achieve what we could have this season, and want to turn things around. That’s the task ahead of us, and it’s what we will accomplish next season.

Guido Burgstaller:

We let Leverkusen have too much of the ball in the first half, played too deep and didn’t push forward enough. We addressed that during the break and played better as a result. It’s always a good feeling to score, but when it might be offside then it’s not so great at first. Luckily, the goal counted—it seems as though I feel very at ease here in Leverkusen. We wanted to put on a strong performance in our last away game this season by giving it our all. With a bit of luck, we could have won the game, but in the end, the result is well-deserved. In our last game of the season, we want to give something back to the fans in return for their great support this season. We have not had much to celebrate this season, which is why it would be really great to end the season with a win. If we play the way we did during the second half today, then I have a really good feeling about it.