Southampton gave everything against Arsenal, says Schneiderlin

Jan 1, 2013 8:40:00 PM

The Saints midfielder hailed the spirit shown by his team-mates during Tuesday's 1-1 draw with the Gunners and claimed the south coast club are constantly improving

Southampton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin has hailed the spirit shown by his team-mates during their 1-1 draw with Arsenal on New Year's Day.

Nigel Adkins' men took the lead midway through the first half thanks to a Gaston Ramirez strike before the visitors levelled through a Guly Do Prado own goal less than 10 minutes later.

But, after seeing his side hold their own against the Gunners to earn a point, Schneiderlin reiterated his belief that Southampton have enough quality to stay in the Premier League.

He told reporters: "We knew before the game that it was going to be a very tough game. We knew that we would need to keep our position and that we need to keep a good shape and we did that. We were unlucky with the goal we conceded, but we put in a good shift. We give everything for each other.


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"We have come a long way [since losing 6-1 at the start of the season]. It was very hard to take, defeats like that always are. We showed great character, we worked very hard on the training ground, and we have shown that we are better, stronger and can do well in this league."

Schneiderlin's team-mate Jack Cork, who performed admirably in an unfamiliar right-back role, echoed the former Strasbourg man's sentiments and expressed satisfaction with recent results.

He said: "It was a good point. We could have nicked it towards the end. We had Stoke last week, everyone's worked really hard. It's been a busy Christmas period but we've got some points and done alright.

"Our aim was to be out of the bottom three by Christmas, and we've done magnificently to get out of there. Hopefully we can keep there during the rest of the season."

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Champions League final - LIVE!

German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund will battle it out at Wembley for European glory. Get involved by sending us your thoughts via Twitter or Facebook! Hosted by Mark Doyle.

6:49 PM BST

Fair to say that our man Jay Jaffa is really savouring the atmosphere at Wembley right now:

"Just off Wembley Way I've found a Bayern 'area', if you can call it that. A mass of red-shirted fans are lapping up the last of the sunshine and having a sing-song. On the opposite side of Wembley, Dortmund have an official brass band smashing out A-Ha's 1985 classic 'Take On Me', while a group of insanely talented ball jugglers entertain the passers by. It's ramping up now, more folk are filling the walkways and it truly feels like the Champions League final. Not long now ... "

Couldn't agree more with Jay: the excitement really is building; and 'Take On Me' was indeed a classic. Indeed, if the 1980s gave us nothing else (and other than Arrigo Sacchi's wonderful Milan side, they didn't!), they did at least provide us with a pop song as brilliant as its video - a rare occurrence in the music world.

6:40 PM BST

And now the Bayern line-up! The only small surprise here is that Jerome Boateng has been preferred to Daniel van Buyten alongside Dante at the heart of the defence. As expected, Mario Mandzukic has got the nod up front ahead of Mario Gomez.

Bayern Munich: Neuer; Lahm, Dante, Boateng, Alaba; Martinez, Schweinsteiger; Robben, Muller, Ribery; Mandzukic.

6:36 PM BST

Borussia Dortmund have announced their starting line-up for tonight's Champions League final!! And it's as we predicted, with Kevin Grosskreutz starting on the left-hand side and Marco Reus moving infield to fill the void left by the injured Mario Gotze.

Dortmund XI v Bayern: Weidenfeller; Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer; Gundogan, Bender; Blaszczykowski, Reus, Grosskreutz; Lewandowski.

6:31 PM BST

Questions rolling in for our own Carlo Garganese over on Twitter, the most left-field of which comes 'I'm Moeg, Sien jy! ‏@MurGyver 34s', who writes:

"Is it true that players can't wear underwear in the final?"

Surely you have to log on now for no other reason than to find out the answer to that cracking enquiry?!

6:26 PM BST

Bayern have arrived at Wembley! The legendary Lothar Mattheus will obviously be cheering on die Roten this evening, but he is just hoping that Fussball is the winner tonight:

"The whole world will watch the game," the World Cup winner told Sky Sport Germany. "It electrifies the masses. Never before there was so much talk about a Champions League final than this time.

"Both groups of fans know the whole world is watching. We have to present ourselves similar to the way we did at WC 2006 because it brings a lot of sympathy. Today we have another chance to present Germany in a positive way."

Unfortunately, there were reports of some clashes between rival sets of fans earlier in the day, but, happily, the atmosphere at the ground is wonderfully good-natured.

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