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Kellermann: Wolfsburg never faltered

Ralf Kellermann told UEFA.com his VfL Wolfsburg team "kept on believing" in their comeback win against Tyresö FF, whose coach Tony Gustavsson remained proud.

Kellermann: Wolfsburg never faltered
Kellermann: Wolfsburg never faltered ©UEFA.com

Ralf Kellermann, Wolfsburg coach
It's obvious that we didn't do too well in the first half, we didn't show our real selves, but when I looked into their eyes at half-time during the team talk, I could see the motivation and the determination that we could come back. Right away after that we scored our first goal, and then the belief increased and the team did great. And their third goal didn't really bother us; the team kept on believing, and it was sensational.

In the first half we didn't show what we were capable of, and Tyresö showed great quality, great individual quality. When I see what a goal Marta scored, that's real quality there. For the first goal we lost the ball in the danger zone, something that shouldn't happen. One minute later there was a three against two, and you shouldn't concede goals like that. In the first half, we didn't play the way we initially wanted to, but in the end we can live with that final score!

Tonight Martina Müller scored two goals and by doing so influenced the outcome. I am very happy for Martina as she has been here since 2005 and is the face of the club. It is no coincidence that she is our top scorer; even in the early rounds she did very well.

I feel great as it was a cliffhanger and it is hard to find words to describe the way I feel right now. What I did say to all my players is that all of them from 1-25, and all the staff, have worked very hard for a long time and I can't express my gratitude enough.

Tony Gustavsson, Tyresö coach
Wolfsburg came out [in the second half] and were the team we expected them to be when we began the game. Very aggressive, very powerful, they ran at us, they went at us and they were not as scared of us as we were in the first half, which you could see they were in the first half. They had nothing to lose; they came out with energy, and that effort gave them the early goal. They gave even more after that.

I don't think our players were scared coming out in the second half, as we talked to them about it before the game and at half-time but the power that Wolfsburg came out with, we couldn't stop that first goal, and when it was 2-1 it affected [our players] mentally.

But again if the team wasn't strong that could end the game, and it could end up three or four for Wolfsburg. But we kicked back after it went to 2-2 and came back into the game, and the brilliance of Marta, her individual performance again just like in the first half, put us 3-2 up, and boom! The game was different again and it was a 50-50 game in the middle of the second half.

Sometimes football is simple, it is about whether you get energy or strength or not. We had a Marta and had a [Véronica] Boquete who had been injured. When they were fresh in the first half, look at how they played, they controlled everything, we only made one mistake. It was a brilliant first half from us, we showed exactly what we wanted to do, very attack-minded soccer. But Marta had pain at half-time, she wanted to be on the pitch and we chose to have her on the pitch, even though she wasn't 100%. Right or wrong? I think it was right, the brilliance of when she got the third goal.

But it did affect Christen Press because we needed to use her on the wing to defend more and that affected the team. Then with injuries to Meghan Klingenberg and Lisa Dahlqvist, that hurt us as we needed to make a lot of changes in the team. Tonight Marta showed the world what she is all about. There's one Marta, and it is a privilege to work with her.

I told the players there is a different kind of success and for me they were successful tonight. "Success is peace of mind, knowing you did your very best to become the best you're capable of becoming" – John Wooden. That's what the players did tonight.

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