Quotes on the cup thriller

Struber: “This must not happen in any way!”

Gerhard Struber(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Cup defending champions Sturm Graz won a turbulent semi-final clash against serial champions Red Bull Salzburg 4:3 on Thursday. Here are the comments on the game.

Gerhard Struber (Salzburg coach): "It's a very painful moment and one that we had planned completely differently. We started the game really well, dominated the first 20 minutes, but then lost the momentum. We simply shifted down a gear, which should never happen against a team like Sturm Graz. We didn't do the basics of our game well. That's when Sturm came out and we have to take it upon ourselves to do better in such a top game. When you see how we defended in Graz and how we defended today, it's a huge difference. We now have to digest this defeat very quickly and look ahead."

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Alexander Schlager (Salzburg goalkeeper): "On their second goal, I have to hold the ball. When Schnegg scored, one of our defenders was standing in front of it, so it was relatively difficult to see the ball in time. Nevertheless, life goes on. We'll try to do better in the league on Sunday. The needle is already in the place where it hurts the most. We already wanted to win this title. But we have to accept the situation, prepare well for Rapid and keep scoring points."

Christian Ilzer (Sturm coach): "We were even more present in the final third (compared to Sunday, note) and played even better soccer there. It was important how we reacted to the early goal we conceded. Salzburg then had a spell of pressure, but we scored an outstanding goal. Salzburg had the better start, but we were better from minute to minute. We had a sensational start to the second half, we conceded very little and had plenty of chances to score. We wanted to play a great game here against a top opponent. Someone has to imitate us to score four goals here. We really wanted to go to Klagenfurt again, with Rapid we have an opponent who made a fantastic soccer match possible last year with a super atmosphere."