FC St. Pauli

Head coach Alexander Blessin: “We’re naturally very happy about the three points. Last week we got off the mark and we carried the manner of that performance into today's game. We kept our formation well, we defended very well and we allowed them very little from open play. We knew that Freiburg had quality at dead balls and down the wings. We stood very solid in the centre and had some good transition moments. When the right time came, we then struck as well. The efficiency that was lacking in the last few games was there today. The boys can enjoy the win tonight, but tomorrow we already start looking ahead to Mainz.”

Elias Saad: “It’s a great feeling to score my first goal in the Bundesliga, and then straight away also my second. It was a really strong team performance. Everyone worked hard against the ball, and we took our chances very efficiently. For my second goal I had a lot of space, somehow go past three of their players and then shoot with my last remaining energy. The keeper speculated, so it was somewhat fortunate that the ball went in. It was then an indescribable feeling celebrating in front of our fans.”

Oladapo Afolayan: “I enjoy every game that I play in. It’s about hard work and believing in yourself. That's the same for all the lads who’ve come in over the last few weeks. I’m thinking there not just about me, but also Carlo, Manos and Elias. We all wanted to show that we’ve got the quality. Elias played really well again. We both did a lot of work defensively, in order to then be there at the transition moments. We know that we’ve got the ability to cause other teams problems with that. Against Leipzig we still had some bad luck. We knew that we had to show that sort of performance again. Today, we took our chances.”

Jackson Irvine: “Everything was right today. There was also a bit of good fortune to it, but that's something you have to earn for yourself. You saw today and against Leipzig the changed mentality. Elias and Dapo were outstanding today, both in transition and when defending. Niko saves a penalty and our back line fends everything off. We were very compact and didn’t give Freiburg any space.”

Johannes Eggestein: “We defended well and were able to keep poking away at them. Once or twice we perhaps also had a bit of luck. But in the end it’s a deserved away win. We already defended somewhat deeper against Leipzig. It had certainly worked very well in that game. Today, we showed efficiency and got our reward too with the goals.”

Photos: FC St. Pauli / Witters