FC Bayern laid down a marker on Saturday evening, winning 5-1 away to Borussia Mönchengladbach. "It was one of our best Bundesliga performances so far this campaign," said a highly satisfied Niko Kovac after the final whistle. The men from Munich demonstrated they absolutely wanted to take three points. "We wanted to do our homework, and we had a score to settle from the first match," declared Manuel Neuer.
Reaction to Gladbach v Bayern
Niko Kovac: "I'm very pleased with the match and the way we played, but we should have scored some more goals. It was one of our best Bundesliga performances so far this campaign. We've caught up with Dortmund, everything's open again. The championship title won't be a walk in the park, tough matches lie ahead of us. But we're motivated enough to see it through. The team are doing a really good job, the atmosphere here is good. The team really want to make it."
Manuel Neuer: "We wanted to do our homework, and we had a score to settle from the first match. You don't like to lose 3-0 at home. You could tell in the first 20, 30 minutes we wanted to win the match. We could have scored a few more goals in the first half, but of course we're perfectly happy with the 5-1 victory. We were bold from the start, let the ball do the work and created chances. We aren't at the top yet. A lot is possible this season. We must stay calm and give it everything to clinch the championship title."
Thomas Müller: "I don't remember us ever winning by such a margin here, we always struggled. It was an interesting match and we had gilt-edged chances. We're happy, the matchday went superbly for us. It was great to take an early two-goal lead. We had a few very good moves up front. The momentum is on our side. It starts from scratch now. In the winter we didn't think we'd catch up like this. We're clearly in better shape than in autumn. We've tasted blood now."
Dieter Hecking (Gladbach coach): "It's difficult when you go down against Bayern after two minutes. We wanted to control the match then and had to take risks. We pulled one back, after the restart we wanted to build on that, but then we conceded another goal. There's no explanation for our mistakes. It was a deserved defeat."
Yann Sommer (Gladbach keeper): "We were completely asleep in the first 20 minutes. It's inexplicable. It's difficult to achieve anything against these opponents when you're two down after such a short time. We went missing, many of our passes went astray. Bayern just had too many chances today."
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