VfB coach Armin Veh: "I had said before that this would be a tough game. Varna played very differently here to how they did in the first leg. They were much more aggressive. We made life difficult for ourselves. It's not easy when you go 0-1 down from out of nowhere because the opponents grew in confidence and then scored a second. We managed to claw our way back and avoid elimination. Many thanks to the fans who were here and supported us right to the end."
VfB captain Thomas Hitzlsperger: "It was very important to progress. We can be satisfied with that but the way we did it wasn't OK. It was a very strange game. The two goals we scored before the end were vital because it spared us having to go to extra time two days before the clash with Werder Bremen."
VfB debutant Sebastian Rudy: "On the whole we controlled the game over long periods but then things took a sudden change for the worse. Luckily we were able to turn around a 0-2 deficit and progress in the tournament. I'm delighted about having played in my first competitive game from the start and I hope for many more."
VfB goal-scorer Mario Gomez: "We didn't expect things to go the way they did. We were very poor tonight. We didn't seem determined enough and weren't 100% concentrated. We had worked very hard for a year to make sure we qualify for the UEFA Cup group phase and tonight we very nearly blew it! That's unacceptable! Maybe we were already in the game against Bremen with our thoughts."
