The Bayern camp had no complaints about the first Champions League defeat of term. “We absolutely deserved to lose,” said Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. “That wasn’t worthy of a big club,” fumed Mark van Bommel, “we threw it away tonight.” Rummenigge called on the team to win the next two home fixtures, “otherwise it’ll be hard to make the last 16. The team has to react immediately and take the points we need.”
Reaction to Bordeaux v Bayern:
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge: “We were very poor in the first half. It was basically an ideal start, in that we took a lucky lead after six minutes through an own goal. We should have seen it through to the final whistle easily after that, or at least avoided defeat. But we came up short in every area: willingness to run, fighting spirit, and then Müller was sent off and we were a man down, which made it very difficult. We absolutely deserved to lose, and now we’re obviously under pressure. We’re clearly inconsistent at the moment. It was OK in Freiburg, especially in the second half. But you’ll never survive in the Champions League with what we served up today. We now have home games against Bordeaux and Maccabi Haifa. We have to take six points, or it’ll be extremely difficult to make the last sixteen. The team has to react immediately, stem the tide, and take the points we need.”
Louis van Gaal: “We started well and had plenty of possession, and we were gifted a goal from a corner. Too many passes went astray after we took the lead, and it was obvious they would come at us. Strange how we played much better in the second half with ten men than we did with eleven before then. We could have made it 2-2, but it didn’t want to go in. It’s unbelievable. But it’s also unbelievable that we gave the ball away so often in the first half.”
Topics of this article