#TSGB04 Reaction: "A frustrating defeat"

Julian Nagelsmann: "We played well in the first half and gave them very little – we were the better team. There were a lot of incidents where we switched from defence to attack and had the numbers going forward, then we hit the bar; that could have gone in on another day. We weren’t switched on for their goal. The second half was the same story again, we had good chances, hit the post, narrowly missed with another shot – we really needed to equalise here, but instead Leverkusen double their lead with their first shot of the half. We had to commit after that and leave ourselves vulnerable – that’s how they ran away with it."

Heiko Herrlich (Leverkusen manager): "We’re very pleased to come away with three points here, especially because we hadn’t anticipated such a big victory. In the first half it was a very open game, with both teams enjoying good spells and good chances. Taking the lead so close to half time gave us a real advantage, because it gave us much more space to play into in the second half. After the second goal, we had chances to make it three, but were sloppy at that point. Conceding annoyed me, but all in all it was a fair result."

Adam Szalai: "It’s a bitter defeat – I’m finding it difficult to say anything positive. I had a good feeling in the opening 20 minutes, but then we conceded the opening goal. Even after half time, we came out strong, only for them to score again. Leverkusen have a lot of quality up front, you could see that today, and they deserved to win because of that. We weren’t clinical, made nothing of some good chances. That was the difference today.”

Pavel Kaderabek: “Leverkusen were the better team today. They deserved the win. We had chances too but we didn’t take them. Leverkusen are a great team and people need to recognise that.”

Oliver Baumann: “Leverkusen have a lot of quality going forward. We didn’t play badly but we didn’t make the most of our opportunities. Leverkusen were more clinical and that’s why they’ve got the three points today. If Lukas had scored the equaliser just after the break, the game may have panned out differently. But unfortunately he only struck the post. The scoreline is too damning. We didn’t have that ruthless efficiency which Leverkusen had.”

Florian Grillitsch: “The scoreline isn’t the decisive factor. The decisive factor is that we lost. We had good opportunities at the start of the game that we didn’t capitalise on. Leverkusen on the other hand did do that. They converted their chances and so they deserve the win. We lacked a bit of luck here and there – to hit the woodwork twice is frustrating. We need to draw a line under this game and move on. The game in Munich will obviously be extremely tough but we will try our best to get something from it.”

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