Bayern had to wait until stoppage time for a happy end to the last match of the year. Robert Lewandowski sealed the final 2-1 scoreline in the third minute of injury time against Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern toppling their rivals from their perch to top the table during the winter break. "What we showed as a team was sensational," the match-winner commented after the final whistle. Thomas Müller summed up Bayern's motivations in a nutshell: "We wanted to show we're the best team in Germany!" fcbayern.com has compiled the statements.
Reaction to Leverkusen vs. Bayern
Hasan Salihamidžić: "It was a difficult match, a top match. We struggled a lot at the beginning. But we upped the ante in the last 10 minutes of the first half and in the second half. At the end of the day it was a deserved win. The team didn't just show their mentality today, they've shown it throughout the year. The team did an outstanding job. We must pay everyone a huge compliment, the coaches and the players. We're very satisfied. We've struggled over the last few weeks, we need the few days of rest. We've travelled a lot and had many matches. We want to go for it again next year, advance in the Champions League and the cup and win the league title. We have tough competition but the lads are doing a good job."
Hansi Flick: "We really wanted to win. You could tell that the team had the desire to do so. We went a goal down again due to a mistake, that happens. At the moment, every mistake we make is being punished. But the team has the quality to always come back in these games and win them for us and they believe in their own strength until the very final whistle. From that point of view, flying home from Leverkusen with a victory under our belts is the conclusion we all wanted for this year. With this we have concluded a fantastic year for FC Bayern and this team."
Thomas Müller: "It was like a final. We wanted to show we're the best team in Germany, and we saw Leverkusen are very close to us. They hurt us. We didn't make it easier for ourselves when we conceded the goal. It was like the last few matches, it wasn't easy for us. But it also shows how much we can take. The fact we scored the match-winner in the last second is a great end to a Hollywood film of our year. The victory may have been deserved in terms of spirit and mentality. We invested a whole lot. You could see both teams got tired. But I felt we were on the front foot. But at the end of the day you just need a bit of luck."
Robert Lewandowski: "We always want more. From the new year, we want to keep playing like this and go from win to win. The workload has been tough on both teams lately. You could see that. We didn't have that sharpness. Today we played a few bad passes. Leverkusen perhaps had the game under control, but what we showed as a team was sensational."
Peter Bosz (Bayer Leverkusen head coach): "If you saw the whole 90 minutes, my opinion as head coach of Bayer Leverkusen is that we did not deserve to lose this game. It was an intense game, not a great game for either team. We played bravely, pushed Bayern. We led 1-0 and then conceded two daft goals. We have to learn from that if we want to win big games like that. Even if we don't play well, we mustn't lose. I can't legislate for that."
Lukáš Hrádecký (Bayer 04 Leverkusen): "Two unnecessary goals cost us points. That's really annoying. But life goes on. Today our disappointment prevails, but it's nevertheless been a strong 2020. We were on the same level as Bayern today. We didn't deserve to lose in the end. We were dominant in the first half, maybe we should have created a few more good chances."
The match report:
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