Max Kruse was yet again an important factor in Werder’s victory in Dortmund with two assists. Werder’s top scorer this season was not, however, in the spotlight of the 2-1 win on his 200th Bundesliga appearance as much as he has been of late. WERDER.DE spoke to the 29-year-old after the game. In the interview, Kruse spoke about Maximilian Eggestein’s goal, the injury that his striking partner Fin Bartels picked up and the sprinting battle with BVB defender Sokratis.
WERDER.DE: Many congratulations, Max. It’s been 11 years since Werder won at Dortmund. How do you feel after the win?
Max Kruse: “It is obviously an amazing feeling to win here. We are just unbelievably proud and happy that we won today so we’re in a pretty good mood. It was really hard work but we deserved to win at the end of the day.”
WERDER.DE: You could even say that you could have won by a bigger margin...
Max Kruse: “Yeah, straight after the game I bought myself a new turbo charger so hopefully next time I will be a bit faster and beat Sokratis to the ball (laughs). But joking aside, if we had been more intelligent on the counter attack we could have won by more but all that counts today is the win, not the chances that we didn’t take.”
WERDER.DE: There were a few chances that the team missed today. Despite this you proved your value to the team with two assists. The way the team passed it around today seemed so easy, how easy actually was it?
Max Kruse: “It is never easy at this level in the Bundesliga. Every team has players who can break up the play. I have had some good and some not so good performances but it is going really well at the moment. But I am just really thankful for the way the team have supported me, making good runs to drag the opponent out of position which gives me space to run into.”
WERDER.DE: Your left foot is stronger than your right foot whereas it’s the other way round for Maxi…
Max Kruse:(laughs) “To be completely honest, when he struck the ball, at first I was wondering which row the ball would land in? But it went in. It was a brilliant strike. He said to me afterwards that he only tried the shot because he almost scored from a similar position against Frankfurt. I am really happy for him that he has got his second Bundesliga goal but to us as a team it doesn’t matter who scores the goals.”
He will be a big missMax Kruse on Fin Bartels' injury
WERDER.DE: There were some great celebrations at full time in front of the Werder fans. Is it still a time to be celebrating, or are you already looking ahead to the Leverkusen game?
Max Kruse:”I’ve said it before, but there are right and wrong times for it. We put in a fantastic performance today. The fans have been with us through the tough times, so today was a good time for us to thank and celebrate with them.”
WERDER.DE: Sadly though, there were some sad scenes in the first half, as Fin Bartels was forced off with a torn Achilles tendon. What did you make of the situation, and have you seen Fin since the game?
Max Kruse: “Of course, I didn’t fully realize how serious it was at the time. I just thought he’d been unfortunate to have to leave the field. At half time we heard the first diagnosis. That is really, really tough to take. We wish Fin a speedy recovery. The injury definitely taints today’s win, especially as Fin has been in great form in recent weeks. And now we will probably be without him for the rest of the season. He will be a big miss.”
