The German-born manager states: “Even though we were 2-0 up in the first half, I still thought we’d have an uphill struggle. Particularly when Granada were awarded a penalty. I don’t think Riki’s injury went in our favour either, as I believe Piti is a much more dangerous player, causing us a lot of problems throughout the match. This is a good time for us, and we’ve been waiting to get a great result like this for several weeks now. Although we’ve won our last three away games, losing to Real Madrid here was tough, and we didn’t get the right result against Espanyol. However, today’s victory is so important, not only because we were up against a direct rival with the same number of points, but we needed to boost our confidence and believe in ourselves. We can’t stop now, and really must maintain this standard of play for the remainder of the season. We still need more points, but today’s win has done wonders for team morale.”
With regards to staying in the First Division, the Blue and Whites’ coach adds: “We’re getting closer to our objective of staying in the elite, but there’s still a way to go. I’m thrilled with today’s win in front of our home crowd, as our fans haven’t seen us win here for some time. We need to maintain this winning streak in order to gain peace of mind.”
Schuster talks about the importance of Willy Caballero saving El Arabi’s penalty just before half-time: “Psychologically, it was a crucial time to not concede a goal. If the score board had shown 2-1 after 45 minutes, we’d have been a lot more nervous, as matches can change so much in a short space of time, but with a 2-0 lead we were much more confident. We quickly increased our lead to 3-0, and continued to work hard and really believe in our performance. We had a bit of luck today, but luck doesn’t come on its own, we’ve worked really hard for this. We’re in a better position now, but luck has definitely been on our side a bit more recently.”
The manager talks about Camacho’s recent performance, following his two goals today: “He’s playing really well in that position. A similar thing happened in Vigo, and again today. We’re playing well and launching accurate shots at the target, which is fundamental to the team’s success. At the start of the season, I didn’t see Camacho as one to head the ball into the net so well, or the year before, probably because of Weligton and Demichelis being in the frame, but I was told he’d score goals, and here he is performing very well.”
