UEFA.com works better on other browsers
For the best possible experience, we recommend using Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge.

Mixed emotions for Germany's Bernhard

Anouschka Bernhard hailed hat-trick hero Jasmin Sehan but admitted her Germany team found it hard against Scotland, whose battling display gives coach Pauline Hamill hope.

Mixed emotions for Germany's Bernhard
Mixed emotions for Germany's Bernhard ©UEFA.com

Anouschka Bernhard, Germany coach
The three points are the most important thing. It was a really close game, a hard game [and] I think for the spectators it was a good game [played] at a high standard. I'd have liked for my team to play well in the second half – we didn't play well, we made a lot of mistakes, so Scotland scored twice. We knew before it would be a hard game for us and at the end it was really, really hard so we are very glad that we got a win.

[Sehan] is very important for the team, and not only as a striker – she is also the one who provides the final pass. She plays and trains with a first-division team [VfL Wolfsburg] in Germany and for her development this was very good. She started this season well and we can see how she has taken the next step to the next level.

We talked about [not easing off] at half-time and I said we couldn't make this mistake because Scotland want to score, they don't want to lose this game. I've said before, pressure and spectators is something the girls don't really know, and it is hard for them to handle this. I don't think they enjoyed it. Even if there were only 150 or 200 spectators here there was a good atmosphere so it was like a huge game – and it was a huge game because we're playing in the European Championship.

Pauline Hamill, Scotland coach
You don't want to be 3-0 down to Germany and we were clearly disappointed with how we lost some of the goals in the first half but the players showed character and not only that, they have real talent and that showed in the second half. You have to get it in perspective – we're playing against the three-time European Championship winners and we have gone and scored two goals against them and had them on the back foot for quite a big part of the second half. You're just wishing it had stayed 3-2 a bit longer [because] at that point the Germans were a little bit nervous as well.

[At half-time] there were a couple of things tactically we had to sort out. We just felt [Sehan] and [Ricarda Walkling] were dropping in between the lines too much and that caused us a lot of problems. Also one of our full-backs [was] pushing too high up. I think we dealt with that much better in the second half.

We've now played our first game at a finals and that is a big thing and that was against the three-time European champions. That experience now is in the bag and we now move on to the next game and will try to put some things right but as well take a lot from the second-half performance.