FC St. Pauli

Fabian Hürzeler: “It was a high-intensity game. Darmstadt pressed us very well high up the field, especially in the first half. We didn’t always find the right footballing solutions there. We had to hit it long quite a lot, which didn’t work in our favour because our front players aren’t the biggest. Darmstadt were the more active team, but we took the lead out of the blue from a set piece. We came out for the second half feeling confident. We set out to be braver and try to play the ball out from the back. We had some excellent attacks at times and deservedly made it 2-0. We kept everything out after that, including the long balls. Darmstadt kept threatening in our box, but we defended very well as a unit and got the third goal near the end. The margin of victory was too high. We had the momentum on our side in the first half, which is also part of the truth. I was really very pleased in the second half because we were very good in every phase of the game. I’d like to congratulate Darmstadt on the season they’ve had so far. I’d be happy to see them go up.”

Leart Paqarada: “We knew what we were up against today. We took our chances in clinical fashion and kept a clean sheet. We kept them out very well, more or less, including all the long balls. In the end we got our reward for a very committed performance and deservedly took all three points. Darmstadt had a couple of chances in the first half that were down to our mistakes. Scoring the goal so close to half-time helped us. It meant we came back out for the second half with a different feeling. We knew Darmstadt would take more control of the game and that gaps would open up. We exploited those gaps and that’s why we scored three times. Beating the league leaders in that fashion points to a team who want to be in contention at the top and deserve to be there. We’ll see what the next few weeks bring now. They’ll be cool games, starting with Düsseldorf next week.”

Elias Saad: “I dreamed of playing here. I'm happy to be able to show that . I'm delighted with the win and obviously over the moon to have scored. I hope it keeps going like that. After the derby defeat, Fabian Hürzeler made it quite clear that we weren’t compact enough and conceded too many goals. We have three games left and want to win them. We’ll carry on taking each game as it comes and then we’ll see whether it’s enough.”

David Otto: “It couldn't have gone any better, it was all over after the third goal. I've always talked about having an influence on the game in the minutes you get, whether it's by holding the ball up or scoring like today. You saw tonight how tight it is and I expect it to be the same against Düsseldorf next week. You also saw that we all fight together and go through difficult phases in the game together. It’ll be just as difficult next week, but we want to come through it together.”

Torsten Lieberknecht (SV Darmstadt 98 head coach): “Congratulations to FC St. Pauli first of all on a deserved win in the end. We knew we were up against the best team in the second half of the season who came with a very complex playing philosophy. In the opening stages, St. Pauli were more in the game in the first ten minutes, but then we had more control and far more attempts on goal. It hurts to watch it back and see it was a clear penalty for Marvin Mehlem when it was still 0-0. I don’t understand why it didn’t go to VAR. St. Pauli had the moment when they scored on the stroke of half-time and they started the second half better as well. They could have added a second earlier than they did. We had some bad luck today, such as the offside goal. You got the feeling we could have gone on playing for an eternity without scoring. St. Pauli defended with lots of passion, we have to admit. We respect and accept the fact that we lost against strong opponents today and didn’t deliver our best performance. My team wanted to perform and that’s what earned them the support of the fans after the final whistle. The way they saw us off the pitch at the end gave us a lot of strength.”

Photo: Witters