Bayern travelled to the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg with high hopes, but ended up falling to their heaviest defeat of the season. “It’s disappointing, but there’s nothing we can do to change it now,” a crestfallen Jürgen Klinsmann said afterwards. The Bayern coach was the only man from the Munich camp prepared to comment in the immediate aftermath of the champions’ sobering 5-1 reverse against the new league leaders.
Interview: Jürgen Klinsmann
Jürgen Klinsmann, what can you say about the biggest defeat of the season?
Jürgen Klinsmann: “Obviously, it’s a big blow, there’s no doubt about that. We actually played well in the first half and came back strongly after going a goal down.”
What went wrong after that?
Klinsmann: “We made far too many errors when we weren’t in possession, and there were too many individual mistakes too. The way we let Wolfsburg simply knock in their goals was fatal and poor, but we’re all very aware of that.”
Was that a setback for the defence as a unit?
Klinsmann: “Definitely. The players will watch the TV coverage this evening, and they’ll hurt when they see the string of errors which led up to each and every one of the goals we conceded. It’s disappointing, but there’s nothing we can do to change it now.”
You face Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday. How will you get the team back on its feet for that?
Klinsmann: “We need to look forward and turn the corner as quickly as possible. Obviously, we’ll discuss the mistakes we made today, but we’ll turn our focus to Barcelona as of tomorrow. We’re all professionals and we have to pick ourselves up, even after you’ve taken a beating. We’ll get back on our feet, and we’ll play much better in Barcelona.”
What does the defeat mean for the title race?
Klinsmann: “We have to swallow this bitter pill for now. We could have taken a giant stride forwards today, just as Wolfsburg have now done. We’ve missed our chance, and now we’re three points behind the leaders. There are still enough matches to play, but we’re obviously down right now. We’ll have to come to terms with this first.”
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