Rouven Schröder: Darko enjoyed himself and he's really hard to defend in 1v1 situations

Sven Piepenbrock:

First of all, I’d like to wish Enrico Valentini a speedy recovery after his collision. We’re all really proud of the team – they’ve had to deal with a lot recently, including the absence of the head coach. Nürnberg are a side that play good football and they have good individual players too. We warned the lads about that before the game. We started well, and had luck on our side on a few occasions. We played with so much passion and ambition. We were prepared to put the hard yards in and we were clinical too. We scored the goals at the right times and came back well after they equalised to make it 1-1. We’re all really happy about the win.

Robert Klauß:

A lot came together today and we had to try and overcome a number of setbacks. We were forced into two substitutions in the first half due to injuries and then came the own goal. None of that obviously helps you. Despite all that, we could have done a number of things better, particularly in the second half. We played well in the first half, but we made too many mistakes after the break. We lost the ball too often and invited Schalke to break on us. We have to be better in this regard.

Marvin Pieringer:

We made the game more exciting than it needed to be. We began well, scored the opening goal and had chances to increase our lead. We unfortunately didn’t do that and then conceded the equaliser. Ultimately though, we played well and we deserved the win. We created a number of chances in the first half and knew that more would come after the break, so we weren’t too worried about the game being turned on its head. We continued to do what we were doing and were successful. Winning against a side towards the top of the league again was really important. It’s really tight at the top. We’ll now travel to Hamburg with the aim of winning there too.

Rouven Schröder:

We had lots of good moments on the counter and showed a refreshing style of play when we won the ball back. We had a lot of young players on the pitch. Darko really enjoyed himself and he’s extremely hard to defend in 1v1 situations. We had him in the position we signed him for today. He’s really good in the space between opponents and can turn quickly with the ball. He showed a lot of confidence tonight despite a long period on the sidelines with an injury. We live off our players being in form and having the confidence to want to play football.

Nürnberg travelled here with some real confidence. We’ve had some challenges to face before this game, but we managed to put them behind us. We chose to speak about the players who would be on the pitch and not those unavailable. It was a close game, though the way we scored our goals speaks for itself. Even after they equalised, we produced more waves of attacks. I think Marvin Pieringer would have deserved a goal too. He worked really hard and was involved in a number of close situations. We saw that all the lads are committed to us and are all ready to give their absolute all for Schalke. Even the lads who didn’t play today were happy in the changing room. That’s the kind of Schalke that we want.