Rosenberg proud of Malmö success
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Article summary
Two-goal Markus Rosenberg says Malmö FF "believe we can win" no matter who they draw in the group stage after an impressive 3-0 play-off success against FC Salzburg.
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• Markus Rosenberg looking forward to group stage after seeing off FC Salzburg
• Two-goal forward hails crowd and says Malmö FF can beat anyone at home
• Coach Åge Hareide salutes players, staff and fans on "fantastic effort"
• Salzburg's Adi Hütter left disappointed, saying: "We did not play well enough"
Markus Rosenberg, Malmö forward
It was pretty calm. We scored early and we played very tactically against them. We played with five defenders, really compact, they did not really create anything. They had a lot of possession but did not really control the midfield. When we scored the second we gained a lot of confidence. We had the public behind us and it was pretty calm all game. It is difficult to describe. It has been more than ten years since a Swedish club were in the Champions League. We did a fantastic job and we cannot yet really understand that we did it.
You cannot describe [the home crowd], you have to be here, see it and feel it. We have beaten big sides here, and we have played many very good games here in the Swedish league, so it does not matter who comes in the Champions League – we will believe that we can win. [His second goal] I did not want to hit it directly because the defender would block it, so I took one touch – a bad touch – and then I had to take one more. Yeah, it was a good goal.
Åge Hareide, Malmö coach
I want to thank the players for their fantastic effort. I want to thank the staff that have prepared the players. And I want to thank the fans. The club has a fantastic culture. After the game I just tried to enjoy the moment as much as possible. The idea was the same as in Salzburg, to press them in the middle. If they do that we have six players to match them. They did not surprise us. We knew that they were good going forward, but to play like that when they have such good attackers is very brave.
[Magnus Eriksson's goal] is an absolute top goal. It is a fantastic effort. It was a great moment for Magnus, I am so very glad for him. I am very happy about the team effort, but of course Markus [Rosenberg] is the icing on the cake. No doubt about that. But he is even more important as a mentor outside the pitch. In the dressing room. At half-time. After the game. His attitude says: "Alright, maybe we are Swedish and play in Sweden, but we are good and can play at this level."
Adi Hütter, Salzburg coach
I am very disappointed and we did not play as we thought. It feels as if Malmö fought harder for the victory. I said that we can qualify. But we did not play at the level that is needed. We made too many mistakes and we did not play a very good game. We knew that Malmö were strong in the air, so we wanted tall and strong players at the back. But that is not the cause of the loss. We lost because we did not play well enough. We had no force, no shots and no good passes. That was a problem.
We were mentally prepared. We have played against big teams like Fenerbahçe, but this was another game and we did not do well enough. It is a very sad feeling because we really wanted to qualify. But we have to forget this game and prepare for the Europa League.
Peter Ankersen, Salzburg midfielder
It is a big disappointment. We had a goal to be in the Champions League and play against the best teams in the world and today was not a good day. We could see over the two games that we were the better team, maybe we should have closed the tie at home. We had a lot of chances there, and today not as many. They were very effective.
We knew that they would play with long balls and that is what they did very well and today we could not find the solution, we could not find the way to get out of the pressure. It is not good from our side. We have to play in the Europa League now and it is a good way to get rid of some frustrations and prove we are capable of playing international matches. We have to show the crowd and everybody that we want to be in Champions League next year.