Sturm Graz won the Conference League play-off against Slovan Bratislava 4-1 on Thursday and took a huge step towards the round of 16.
Christian Ilzer (striker coach): “It was a top game for us in the second half. We had to make a few adjustments defensively. Then we allowed almost nothing and added two more goals. It was a spectacle in the first half, we could have saved ourselves the two situations in front of our goal. Based on the second half, this amount is deserved. I think it won’t be as easy as it was in the last quarter of an hour next Thursday. We saw how good they can be in the first quarter of an hour. We shouldn’t be too sure, we have to approach the second leg with full concentration. We want to win there too.”Jon Gorenc Stankovic (striker goalscorer): “We played a really good game and scored the necessary goals in the end. We stepped on the gas and never stopped, even after the 1-1 score. Now it’s half time, in a week in Bratislava we have to give it our all again. Anything can happen in football, we don’t want Slovan to come back into the game.”Mika Biereth (striker goalscorer): “Scoring so early was of course good for me and the team. We continued to press and put ourselves in a good starting position with a 4-1 win. We also want to perform professionally in the second leg and of course secure promotion.”Vladimir Weiss (Slovan coach): “From my point of view, there were two very different halves of the game. In the first we were excellent, in the second we were very bad. I also made a crucial mistake during the changes. I shouldn’t have substituted Vlado, he was still in pain, that wasn’t sensible of me. The stadium will be full next week. We will fight, but we are short on personnel. We need a miracle.”
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