Christian Ilzer (Sturm-Trainer): “It was another great game in front of a great crowd. It was a real battle game in the first half. During the break I saw in my boys’ faces that we wouldn’t let this title be taken away from us. We then showed this determination and brought more of a footballing style into this wild, energetic game. That’s why we were the better team. Sturm Graz was the deserved winner today and throughout the entire season.” On the alleged foul on Querfeld before the 2-1: “That was an intense duel, the likes of which have been seen a hundred times in this game.”
David Affengruber (Storm player): “We had to be aggressive. We didn’t do that well in the first half. There was a lot of excitement in the dressing room, with everyone telling each other their opinions. Then we went out and gave Rapid no chance. It’s a final that you don’t play that often, especially a final like this in Austria. But we’ve won it twice now. I hope it releases a lot of strength. Today we will celebrate once and see on Sunday that we beat Hartberg.”
Otar Kiteishvili (Sturm player): “It’s very difficult to come back in a game like this. It shows our mentality and our strong character. Congratulations to the Sturm family, it was wonderful.”
Robert Klauss (Rapid coach): “It was a fight until the last minute, an even game with an unfortunate ending for us. I’m very proud of how the team has worked its way into it, how they have accepted it – with many players who have trained little or not at all. We have to make sure we get back on track, we still have three important games ahead of us.”
On the cross-field scene: “There are nine referees who decide for us if there is a foul and one who decides against us. We had it back in place today. Congratulations. Deciding a cup final like that is complete madness. He pulls him down completely. We no longer need to talk about benefits. Every decision on the pitch today was terrible, that was the crowning achievement. I’m tired of it, really.”
Guido Burgstaller (Rapid captain): “It’s hard to digest. We put in a really good fight and deservedly took the lead in the first half. Immediately after half time the score was 1:1. Sturm was very dangerous with the set pieces, otherwise we kept them away from the goal. It was actually a 50:50 game, but Sturm unfortunately missed a set piece twice where we simply defended poorly. Today we scored the two goals ourselves. Congratulations to Sturm, in the end he deserved to win.”
