It was hard work, but in the end it was Bayern who were able to celebrate! The record DFB cup winners are just one step away from the final in Berlin after a 1-0 quarter-final win away to FC Schalke. Joshua Kimmich scored the decisive goal in Gelsenkirchen. "In that moment you just have to go for it and hope it goes in," said the scorer of the only goal of the game. Coach Hansi Flick was pleased with the performance of his Bayern side: "At the end of the day, it's always important in the cup that you progress. We're in the semi-finals, and that's why I'm very proud of my team." fcbayern.com has compiled the Bavarians' statements.
Reaction to Schalke v Bayern
Hasan Salihamidžić: "It was a good game, of course we would have liked to score more goals. But the win was absolutely deserved. We had 80 percent possession and hardly gave them a sniff, although Schalke did have one or two counter-attacks. But on the whole it was a commanding performance."
Hansi Flick: "My team played very well and very intelligently today. I am satisfied with the way we won this game. We played against a Schalke side today that played very defensively. Nevertheless, we created chances and did very well overall, during the game we had over 80% possession. At the end of the day, it's always important in the cup that you progress. We're in the semi-finals, so I'm very proud of my team. The players are in good spirits, they're in good form. We didn't want to change much today. We'll start to recover now, the boys will have a day and a half off and then we'll start our preparations for the game against Augsburg."
Joshua Kimmich: "I don't think it was possible to roll over opponents like the side we faced today because Schalke played very deep and narrowed lots of space. It was not always possible to play fast and directly. We tried to, but not everything worked out. We also had two or three dangerous counters against us. All in all, it was still a well-deserved victory. I'm happy that I made it 1-0 and that the game ended like that. At that moment you just go for it and hope that it goes in."
Manuel Neuer: "A lot was down to Schalke's tactics today: it was a dry pitch, long balls, playing in behind. We weren't able to play football on the pitch today. We had good chances and over 80% possession, we had total control of the game. We deserved to go through. Of course you know that anything can happen. You could see that in the first half with the Burgstaller goal that was narrowly offside. When their fast players - Kutucu and Raman - came on, we knew something could happen on the counterattack. Our whole team turned in a great defensive performance, so we were able to keep a clean sheet."
David Wagner, Schalke 04 head coach: "Congratulations to Hansi and Bayern. We never lost faith. The guys made a real fist of it and gave Bayern a real fight. We had our two or three really good moments but we didn't use them. Nevertheless, Bayern deserved the victory because they had more possession and chances in the final third. We are disappointed that we've been knocked out."
Guido Burgstaller, Schalke 04 captain: "Maybe we were a bit unlucky with my shot that hit the bar and the goal that was offside. On the whole we can be satisfied, we gave everything out there. But in the end we're out the cup."
The best moments from the 1-0 quarter-final win for Bayern against Schalke 04 can be relived by reading out match report. The link is below 👇
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