Kaiserslautern players knew that they were facing a huge challenge against Bayer Leverkusen in the German Cup final, but admitted that the defeat hurt even more than expected.
The second division team had the numeric superiority on the pitch since the end of the first half, when Leverkusen had Odilon Kossounou sent off, but they still failed to capitalize on the situation and were defeated 1-0 on Saturday.
"We knew that we were playing against a overpowering team. It hurts more now than we thought a defeat would hurt," defender Jean Zimmer told reporters after the match.
Kaiserslautern only escaped automatic relegation to the third division by eight points, but that wasn't enough to tone down the excitement of their fans.
The travelling supporters put up a huge show at the Olympic stadium in Berlin that started with a dazzling choreographed visual display in the stands before kick-off and kept going with flares and fireworks throughout the game.
"What happened in the stadium was incredible. When you know the faces, the people who stand there, the amount of money and time invested to put up such a show, I guess we can be proud of it. Sadly we couldn't reward them," Zimmer said.
The club, however, expects a huge fine from the German Football Federation (DFB) as the use of pyrotechnics is not allowed in German stadiums.
The stadium announcer asked the fans several times to stop lighting up flares and fireworks, but the warnings were useless. The match had to be interrupted for a few minutes after the start of the second half due to a large cloud of smoke from the Kaiserslautern fan block that reached the pitch.
"If a game has to be interrupted, then the fine is of course higher. I hope it won't be quite so high," Kaiserslautern managing director Thomas Hengen said.
Coach Friedhelm Funkel also praised the support from the fans, but he said of the use of pyrotechnics: "That's never good. It should be better discussed with the club so that it doesn't happen so often in future."
DFB president Bernd Neuendorf sharply criticized the behaviour of Kaiserslautern fans.
"That doesn't belong to football. It's not fun, it's dangerous," he told the Welt TV on Sunday.
He said that 10 people needed medical care because of the flares and fireworks. Some of them suffered minor burns.
"I hope this will bring some common sense. I think it's always terrible when people wait until something bad happens," Neuendorf said.
Hengen, meanwhile, didn't want to criticize the DFB unsuccessful security control, saying: "We know that from our own experience. It's very, very difficult. Certain ways (to get into the stadium with pyrotechnics) are always found."
In the past season, the DFB had to issue fines to Bundesliga and second division clubs due to the use of pyrotechnics almost every week.