Heiner Backhaus, coach of Alemannia Aachen, is overwhelmed by the atmosphere in Rostock’s Ostseestadion after the 2-1 away win.
Before the game, Alemannia Aachen and FC Hansa Rostock were on the same number of points, after the final whistle, there were five places between the promoted team from the Regionalliga and the relegated team from the 2nd Bundesliga. Thanks to the somewhat lucky 2-1 away win in Rostock, Aachen has made a huge leap up the table and is now saying goodbye to the relegation places for the time being.
The players from the imperial city are now unbeaten in four games thanks to their first win in Rostock’s Ostseestadion in the club’s history. Heiner Backhaus, coach of Alemannia Aachen, is particularly fond of this stadium: “The atmosphere here in the stadium is the ultimate. I say that as Aachen’s coach and the atmosphere is already at its peak. But I have rarely experienced what comes from three sides here.”
He describes it as a privilege to be able to coach in such an arena. “These are the games that you look forward to as a newly promoted team, that you use as a motive and model in important regional league games,” added the Aachen coach, who almost lost his voice due to the noise in the Rostock stadium, at the press conference.
As in Alemannia’s last victory a month ago over Viktoria from Cologne, it was left-back Saša Strujić who scored Aachen’s winning goal. Strujić seems to have discovered his goal-scoring gene: his brace against Rostock also played a key role in Aachen’s victory.
In the 16th minute, he took a cross with a drop kick and scored from close range. “You play really well for 15 minutes, and in this phase you score a goal with the first chance,” praised Backhaus. But after that, Rostock got better and better – and Aachen lost control.
“The game with the ball from the 15th minute onwards was bad. We’ve played much better,” the 42-year-old also admits. Consequently, the Hanseatic city team equalized through Sigurd Haugen and pushed for the lead in the second half, but shortly before the end, Strujić was in the right place after a corner, headed the ball into the net and caused unbridled cheers among the traveling fans and his teammates. He will gladly accept the yellow card for taking off his shirt.
For Rostock, the defeat means 17th place – which would result in direct relegation. Hansa coach Bernd Hollerbach is accordingly dissatisfied: “The result is bitter because we invested a lot. But if you don’t take your chances, then you’ll just get one at the end.”
But he doesn’t just criticize his own team, he is also full of praise for Alemannia: “Aachen is stable, the processes are right. Something has grown there. That could be a good example for us that things can grow together like that too.”