FIRST TEAM
05/18/2019

Baumann: "It's incredibly bitter"

Here's what Oliver Baumann, Nico Schulz and Julian Nagelsmann had to say after the bitter 4-2 defeat away to 1. FSV Mainz 05.

Oliver Baumann: "We were in the game, getting forward and deservedly leading 2-0. Then came the red card for Christoph Baumgartner. I'm really sorry for him. He's a good footballer but today he found out how tough the sport can be. Ultimately, we all found that out in the end. We fought to keep the score at 2-0, but at some stage the pressure was too much. We were down a man, we had to defend differently, press the opponent differently and Mainz have big and quick forwards. It's incredibly bitter for us. We definitely didn't lose our Europa League chance today. Now we feel empty and sad."

Nico Schulz: "We started very well and implemented exactly what we'd planned. Then there was a small break in the match. Perhaps the match is a reflection of our season. In the end, we didn't manage to defend our lead. The fact that we were down to 10 men is not an excuse. It's obviously annoying, but it's not the reason we lost the game. I believe that even being a man down, we should've defended better than that at the end. We'd already dropped off a bit towards the end of the first period. We have to lay the blame at our own doorstep."

Julian Nagelsmann: "We're obviously disappointed, but we didn't lose our Europa League chance today. The match reflected our entire season. We've mostly begun brightly and had the opposition under control but then not been clever enough, as was often the case in the first half of the season. We allowed them to come back into it and received a totally stupid red card. Christoph Baumgartner cannot let either of those fouls happen. He's a wonderful player with a bright future. Perhaps it might be beneficial for him to have these setbacks in his career. We had two opportunities to score a third goal in the second half. That would've allowed us to put the game to bed. Even once the score was at 2-2, we had another chance. But we were sloppy with it. We've gone about lots of situations in that reckless manner this season and in the end we've finished in ninth. We'd hoped and wished for it to go differently. But for the new coach, it's probably a better situation than if we had finished seventh and the team needed to navigate its way through Europa League qualifiers. Now Alfred Schreuder has the chance to build something outstanding. I hope for him and the club that he succeeds."

Sandro Schwarz (1. FSV Mainz 05 coach): "It was fantastic today. Thanks to an outstanding mentality, we managed to give our guys a worthy send-off. It was a really great occasion."

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