“It’s a massive disappointment,” admitted Arjen Robben following a 4–0 home defeat to Real Madrid, as holders Bayern relinquished their grip on the Champions League at the semi-final stage. “Our limitations have been exposed to a certain extent tonight,” commented Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, “despite the anger you feel welling up inside, I think on days like this you have to stay calm, go home and try to do things better as of tomorrow.“ That was the gist of the message conveyed by Robben: “We have to pick ourselves up and carry on. We still have one final.“
Reaction to Bayern v Real:
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge: “I want to thank the supporters. They did a really magnificent job and gave us wonderful support. Unfortunately we’ve not been able to make the most of that. We didn’t have quite enough passion to cause our opponents serious problems. We were obviously unlucky to go two goals behind to set plays. After that it was obvious Real would make the final. Real have a magnificent team at the moment and our limitations have been exposed to a certain extent tonight. You get games like these, but we need to hold our nerve. We’ve been a little spoiled because we made the final twice in a row, and three times in the last four years. Despite the anger you feel welling up inside, I think on days like these you have to stay calm, go home and try to do things better as of tomorrow. We need to lick our wounds quickly, because we want a much better performance on 17 May in the DFB Cup final against Dortmund.“
Matthias Sammer: “Congratulations to Real Madrid. They’ve deservedly prevailed in both matches, and you have to respect that. We have to acknowledge we’ve lost heavily today, and we accept that. What we have to do now is pick ourselves up, gave a decent performance in our two remaining Bundesliga matches, prepare for the cup and take the trophy. That would make a good season a very good one.“
Pep Guardiola: “It’s a tough night for us, for me and for the players. The reason for the defeat is that we didn’t do enough with the ball. We were outstanding in that respect in Manchester and also in Madrid, but not tonight. If you’re not in control of the match you don’t stand a chance against these opponents. We played badly and that’s my responsibility. This is the highest level in Europe and you’re punished for every mistake. I’ll try and pick the players up.“
Philipp Lahm: “We’re very disappointed because we set our sights high, but suddenly we were 2–0 down after 20 minutes from two set pieces. That really leaves a bitter taste. I don’t think we played well tactically in the first half. The game was too open. It was the opposite of the first leg when we controlled the play. I know they hit us on the break last week, but today it was end-to-end stuff in the first half. That’s fundamentally not the way we play our football but it’s what Real really like. It totally played into their hands.“
Arjen Robben: “It’s a massive disappointment. We were very hopeful, the atmosphere was great and we tried everything we knew. We attacked from the off, but when you concede two goals from set plays you know it’s all over, and then we let in another one. We knew we were playing the world’s best counter-attacking team. A 4–0 defeat at home is a choker, but we have to pick ourselves up and carry on. We still have one final.“
Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid coach): “We had our concerns before the match. But we wanted to apply more pressure than in the first leg and counter-attack well, and we succeeded. What matters to us is reaching the final, and I’m not particularly bothered who we face.“
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