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'The fans were so important for the win'

Laurent Koscielny was at the heart of the action on Sunday as he was kicked in the face to win the penalty that Alexis converted in the 97th minute.

It proved to be the pivotal moment as we recovered from conceding a late penalty ourselves to move into second place in the table.

Koscielny spoke to the media after the game, and this is what he said:

on his emotions…
It was a tough game, after the penalty we conceded I think it was hard to come back but we had one opportunity to score, we won the penalty and Alexis scored so it’s very important to have the three points. The other results were good for us and it was important to win this game.

on whether he thought there’d be a chance to still win the game…
Yes, yes, yes because there were seven minutes extra. We knew we would have one opportunity and with the free-kick we had a good chance. It was difficult, 10 against 11 in the last 15/20 minutes was hard for us because we defend very deep and they play well with the long balls and a big striker up front.

on how important it was psychologically to win…
For the confidence it’s very important to keep the wins on a roll. With the results this weekend it’s important to show our character and we did it. We play sometimes well with the ball but sometimes you need to fight for your team-mates and I think we did it here.

on whether there are any complaints over Xhaka’s red card…
I think it’s difficult. I didn’t see the situation, it’s a big tackle. Sometimes you need to show character in 10 men against 11 and I think we did it here.

on what that says about the team’s fighting spirit…
I think the stadium, the fans were very important to push ourselves to take the three points. We need to keep this for the other games.

 

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