The FC Bayern loyalists demonstrated their fine intuition after the final whistle, cheering up the players who had done everything to win Saturday evening's top clash away to Bayer Leverkusen which ended in a goalless draw. "We deserved to win the match, but we failed to make the most of our chances," boss Carlo Ancelotti said after the match.
"We turned in a decent display, you can't blame anyone," Philipp Lahm said, focusing on the positive aspects. However, the skipper added that the men from Munich "squandered two points." After a dour first half the German record champions built up a real head of first-half steam, David Alaba, Javi Martínez and Arturo Vidal missing three chances following a single attack before Kingsley Coman, Thiago and again Vidal failed to make the most of presentable opportunities.
"We had good chances to take the lead in the first half," said Lahm, who started on the bench and saw the Bavarians try to open the scoring before the captain came on midway through the second half, only to miss a gilt-edged chance himself with five minutes to go. Arjen Robben could have handed his side the lead in stoppage time, but a goal refused to come against Leverkusen, who were a man down for 30 minutes after Tin Jedvaj earned his marching orders. "The positive aspect is that we created lots of chances," analysed Alaba, "but if you squander the chances you can't win."
'It'll be a great game'
"We had several gilt-edged chances, myself included," declared Thomas Müller: "We're a little annoyed because more would have been possible. But now we're fired up for Tuesday." FC Bayern will be looking to make up for the 2-1 reverse against Real Madrid in the quarter-final first leg to advance to the last four. "It'll be a great game," predicted Ancelotti. "We believe in ourselves and we'll give it everything."
"We'll go there and try to turn the tide," announced Lahm. "It won't be easy, we're the underdogs. But we'll have a chance to win in Madrid." Müller is optimistic too: "We know we're able to score two goals, even if we failed to score in Leverkusen. But it boosts our confidence that we created the chances."
Carlo Ancelotti had good news on Saturday. "Robert Lewandowski worked individually in Munich and was able to perform all exercises. It looked good," according to the Bayern boss. The Bavarians have to "wait and see" if Jérôme Boateng and Mats Hummels will be able to play after sustaining knocks: "We hope all three players will be available."
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