Hitzfeld: That rounds off a good week for us

Bayern’s 2-0 victory over Karlsruhe extended their lead at the top of the Bundesliga to seven points over rivals Bremen, prompting understandable satisfaction in the Munich camp. Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld felt his side opened the scoring at exactly the right time, before intelligently controlling the play after going 2-0 up. “I’m obviously delighted with the week we’ve just had,“ he summarised. Reaction to Bayern v Karlsruhe: Ottmar Hitzfeld: “I’m obviously delighted with the week we’ve just had. We’ve exploited a Bremen slip-up in the title race for the first time. It was important to lay our home complex to rest, as we’ve not won here in the Bundesliga since November. I hope that means we’ve removed the mental block here at home. We worked hard and scored the opening goal at just the right time. We were clever after going 2-0 up. We were up against a strong team who never gave up. We defended well when KSC came back at us yet again towards the end. We were under pressure, because we knew Bremen faced a tough challenge in Stuttgart and we had a chance to move seven points clear. Klose played well. With a little more luck he’d have scored a goal or two.“ Oliver Kahn: “We maintained our standards despite a difficult away match. We kept it tight at the back and created plenty of chances, but the title race is far from over. We need to ensure we hold onto our slight advantage. KSC have done well away from home up to now, they kept plugging away until the final whistle. Right at the end, the thought briefly crossed my mind that KSC is where it all began for me.“ Edmund Becker (KSC coach): “We wanted to prove it’s no accident we’re doing so well in the table. We more or less succeeded defensively in the first half, but we didn’t have a lot to offer up front, we never threatened Bayern. We had our best spell in the second half until the 65th minute, we had a lot more of the possession, but that’s exactly when we went 2-0 down, and we no longer had it in us to pose any kind of danger to Bayern. Overall, I’m disappointed, I’d been hoping we’d play better football. Basically, I think we showed them too much respect.“ Maik Franz (KSC captain): “Ribéry was the outstanding player today, he was everywhere. We weren’t good enough to match Bayern today. We’ve played good football in recent matches, but you have to hold your hands up and accept our opponents were the better team. We still have to play the teams who are on a level with us.“