Niclas Füllkrug could hardly save himself from well-wishers. National coach Hansi Flick hugged his “Super-Joker”, not a teammate who didn’t high-five the German national team’s knight of fortune after the final whistle or hugged him after his later heroic deed. And the votes for the game were mainly related to him.
Thomas Müller about the filling jug: “Get in great. That’s what he’s there for. Of course, he has already announced this in the last few days. He has great confidence and as you can see now, a real right hammer with his right foot. An incredible goal, he’s also an incredibly cool guy, I have to say.”
Hansi Flick (national coach): “The team fought unconditionally. But we only took one step. We are a team. We have, even if it is to be read differently, a good togetherness. It’s gigantic what the team has achieved. I am proud. There are warriors on the pitch playing with hearts. If we take this momentum with us – and we get even more self-confidence – then a lot is possible.”
Ilkay Gundogan: “We had a clear idea of how to defend that. In the end we had the better chances to score and can live with the point. (To Füllkrug): You can tell by the goal what qualities he has. There’s no better way to shoot it. That was a brutally important goal for us. We have everything in our own hands, we got the chance to progress today. That’s the most important.”
Antonio Rudiger: “I’m happy for the team. We showed a good reaction. Niclas came in and did his job, so that’s what keeps us alive. We just have a final ahead of us now and we need three points now. The changes were also very important. I think Niclas gives us something up there that we don’t have.”
The Spain game in pictures
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Joker, goals, tie
Manuel Neuer: “Everything was difficult against the Spaniards who were in a good mood. But we accepted this fight and allowed little. Big compliments to the defense and the whole association. After the 0-1 draw, we didn’t bury our heads in the sand and kept believing in ourselves. The important thing is: we are still alive. I believe we are there now. We always want to have everything in our own hands. We are responsible for our decisions and there is the game against Costa Rica that we can influence. And we want to throw everything into that.”
Leon Goretzka: “It was a great fighting performance. It can only work that way at a World Cup. The gate of abundance is pure determination. We scored a lot, you can tell that in front of the goal.”
Joshua Kimmich: “Luckily we got the draw. Spain felt more of the game. We knew beforehand that we would have to walk a lot. We still felt we had better chances. We had one more chance and with a bit of luck we can even win it. But the draw is okay. It was definitely an upgrade. We had some interesting ball wins that could have been more.”
Niclas Füllkrug (goal scorer): “We really wanted to draw this game. It was important for us to get that point. We definitely have a chance to get through to the next round now. We can now go into the last game with a good feeling and hope that everything will turn out well.”
Dani Olmo: “You didn’t make it easy for us. It was difficult for us until we scored the goal. We had the game well in hand at first. We have to top that a little bit. Neuer is a super goalkeeper. In the end we put one in, that was the goal. We no longer have everything under control. We played against Germany, we want to learn from the mistakes for next time.”
Alvaro Morata (Spain goalscorer): “We played against one of the greats of world football, they made it difficult for us, but it was a good game.”
