‘It was a deserved victory’

Bayern are top of the Bundesliga, lead their Champions League group and are now through to the next round of the DFB Cup thanks to Wednesday night’s convincing 3-1 victory away to top flight rivals Hamburger SV, taking the competition’s most successful team through to the last sixteen for the 14th time in a row. “It’s good when you know you’re still in the cup,” commented captain Philipp Lahm. Thomas Müller voiced the opinion shared by all present: “It was a deserved victory.”

Reaction to HSV v FCB

Pep Guardiola: “We learned our lessons from the 0-0 draw in Hamburg a few weeks ago. My team played very well, and it was good to see my team stay focused in the second half.”

Philipp Lahm: “Obviously it’s our biggest target to stay in this competition right to the end. It now takes a break until March, so it's good when you know you’re still in the cup.”

Thomas Müller: “It was a different game compared to the Gladbach match. Gladbach pulled everyone back into their own box, but HSV pressed us aggressively high up the field, so if you can escape the pressure it opens up much more space. We did that quite well sometimes and made some good chances. It was a deserved victory.”

Franck Ribéry: “It was my first game from the start so it wasn’t easy. I’m delighted the team played so well, and I think I had a good game too. I was a bit lucky with my goal, but it was super for me and the team. We have to keep it up, all of us together.”

Joe Zinnbauer (Hamburg coach): “It’s always going to be difficult against Bayern if you go behind after six minutes. But we fought our way back into it and our reaction was good, although their second just before half time was pretty much the kiss of death.”

Heiko Westermann (Hamburg): “I’ve not exactly done the team any favours with my error [leading to the opening goal]. Bayern comfortably saw it through after that. We gave a good account of ourselves in the first half, but at the end of the day they were just too strong. It wasn’t to be, but we gave it our best shot.”

Lewis Holtby (Hamburg): “The individual class ultimately made the difference. They worked up a real head of steam at times. We played well to start with and made it difficult for them. At the end of the day, you have to say Bayern are an incredibly strong team.”