Maaßen: “We need to stay hungry”
Match reaction to the win against Leverkusen
First Team
04.02.2023, 00:02
With two wins out of two, FC Augsburg have made an extremely strong start on home soil in 2023, prevailing against strong competition in Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the WWK ARENA. Here is the match reaction.
Rafał Gikiewicz: “It’s just an incredible feeling to get the second home win in a row, both of which have seen us keep clean sheets, and to get a great Friday night victory in front of our fans! It was an immense team performance and our new signings slotted into the squad nicely, bringing lots of quality onto the pitch. To have kept another shutout is especially pleasing, but that’s compliments to the entire defence.”
Arne Engels: “We played really well and it was a deserved victory. Our fans were unbelievable. You could see that we’ve got a really strong team unit, and I’m personally really happy that I’ve managed to play in all possible games so far. The team has made the integration process super easy, and everyone really helps everybody out here. We want to keep playing like this!”
Arne Maier: “It was a great performance from us, not just physically but also on the ball. We managed to keep a clean sheet and used our set-piece opportunities efficiently to get the goal. Over the 90 minutes we showed what a strong team we are. The fact that we had to put a big shift in at the back proves Leverkusen’s quality.”
Mergim Berisha: “I’m proud of the team for what we did on the pitch tonight. We stayed compact and have a lot of quality up top. I normally take the corners, but since Arne Engels has arrived, he’s been on corners and I’ve been able to get into the middle. It was a superb cross and I’m glad to have been able to help the team out with the goal.”
Aaron Zehnter: “It was an amazing feeling to make my debut, and I think it’ll only truly sink in later. I was at training with the U19s this afternoon when I was told to make my way over to join up with the first team. I could never have dreamt of making my Bundesliga debut on the same day. Before subbing me on, the coach told me to just play football and to not overthink it. That’s what I tried to do and it was great fun. The team remained concentrated over the entire 90 minutes, and that’s an important factor behind the three points. I’ll be celebrating tonight!”
Enrico Maaßen: “Leverkusen have won five of their last six matches, but we absolutely deserved the victory today. We had lots of possession in the first half, and we had to look after the ball, because Leverkusen are capable of punishing even the tiniest mistake with their fast counterattacks. We were brave, however, took care with the ball at our feet and made sure we had enough men back at all times – that shows the progress this team is making, because we’re also capable of defending a little deeper if we need to. Therefore, I’m very pleased with our performance, but we need to keep giving it everything and stay hungry, because our next few games are against evenly-matched teams, against whom we need to get more points than in the first half of the season.”
Xabi Alonso: “It was a tight game decided by fine margins. Not much happened in the first half, and after the break we defended a corner poorly, which then naturally made it tough. We tried everything, but we didn’t play out our chances well enough to get anything from tonight’s game.”
