What an incredible night! With a truly majestic performance on Friday evening, FC Bayern defeated Barcelona 8-2 to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League. "It was a pleasure to watch the lads play," commented board member for sport Hasan Salihamidžić on the record champions' exhilarating performance. "What I'm also particularly pleased about is that the players who come off the bench seamlessly follow up on their teammates' performances. That's absolute team spirit," praised head coach Hansi Flick. At the same time, the Bavarians are already looking forward. "That was step one of three. In the next game we start again at 0-0," said Leon Goretzka. fcbayern.com got all the reaction to progressing to the semi-finals.
Reaction to the win over Barcelona
Hasan Salihamidžić: "The lads hit the ground running and really got into the game from the word go. It was an incredible first half. We kept putting pressure on our opponents, won balls in midfield and were always dangerous. It was a pleasure to watch the lads play. We're just so focused right now and intend to continue in the same vein. We won't let the magnitude of the result make us lose our concentration. We're happy, but we want more."
Hansi Flick: "I have to pay a huge compliment to the whole team. The way the guys kept up the intensity over the whole 90 minutes was just top-notch. That's our mentality, that's what we stand for. What I'm also particularly pleased about is that the players who come off the bench seamlessly follow up on their teammates' performances. That's absolute team spirit. We knew that if we put them under pressure they could make mistakes. We wanted to take advantage of that and it worked out perfectly. Barcelona have an enormous quality in attack, and you could recognise certain automatic behaviour. We had to invest a great deal of effort. It was hard work for our defence, and they coped brilliantly. We're happy that we were rewarded for our performance, also with the size of the result. But we also know we still have a lot to do. Now it's time to recuperate and prepare for our next opponents. After all, we start from scratch again with the next game."
Thomas Müller: "This was certainly a very special evening. The result alone, the way it felt on the pitch and the way we played was something very special. The best thing is that the people who come off the bench have the same joy, the same work attitude. We wanted to dominate the opposition right from the start, as we have done over the last few months. Of course, you can never completely take a team like Barcelona out of the game, especially in attack. We played an incredible first half. We were dominated completely, especially when not in possession. We can't quite understand it. The way we played together... it just warms my heart."
Joshua Kimmich: "It's just incredible. You have to remember we won 8-2 against Barcelona - that's difficult to understand. We were brutally focused from the first minute, and were relatively unlucky with the 1-1. Nevertheless, I didn't feel too uneasy. You could tell we wanted to win this game. We were extremely determined, and with a very high back line were very brave too. In the end it's an unbelievable result. After the fifth goal Barça realised there wasn't much they could do. They didn't have the belief any more. What made us stand out was that we kept on looking for the next goal. We were brutally cool, calm and collected on the ball. We're not finished yet."
Leon Goretzka: "It's something special. We'll only really realise it in the next few days. We've put on a good performance and this is the result. We were aggressive in the tackle from the first second on. That's what we had planned on doing. With their excellent individual players it was clear that you have to make them feel uncomfortable and keep snapping at their heels. That worked out well from the start and we really found our way into the game. When you score an early goal, you notice that it's working. After conceding the equaliser you could see what kind of team spirit we have. We didn't let ourselves be distracted, we just kept going. Our pressing was brutal. In the end, the goals came thick and fast. Barcelona had given up, too. The confidence is there, and it won't be diminished by what happened tonight. That was step one of three. In the next game we start again at 0-0. "We're going to enjoy it all tonight."
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