They worked hard for a long time and deserved to celebrate at full-time! FC Bayern responded in the right way on Sunday after two consecutive defeats in Gladbach and in the cup at Kiel, celebrating a very important 2-1 home victory against SC Freiburg. The Bavarians secured top spot in the table with the win as the league reaches its halfway stage. "Today it was important to show we wanted to win the game. We got into 50/50s right from the start and played forward," said coach Hansi Flick, satisfied with the performace. "We had situations where it felt effortless and we combined well," said Leon Goretzka. fcbayern.com has collected the reactions to the match below.
Reaction from the Bayern camp:
Hansi Flick: "We haven't had an easy spell. Today it was important to show we wanted to win the game. We went into 50/50s right from the start and played forward. The opener was excellent play. After that we could have doubled our lead, and then the game would have been different. The defence did well today, even though we were lucky in stoppage time at the end of the game. But we deserved the victory. Of course, it's important we have the four point lead (at the top of the table), but all that counts for us is that we win our games. We have to be just as focused in the next games in Augsburg and at Schalke as we were today. I'm satisfied with how the team performed."
Jérôme Boateng: "We had to work for the win. Overall, we can be satisfied. We have to improve the way we play. But after last week, it's clear that not everything works out on its own. In the end, we were a bit shaky, but we are responsible for that. We had two or three good chances beforehand where we should have killed off the game. At the end, the game became tight. But the important thing is that we fought hard. It wasn't an easy game, Freiburg are not an easy opponent. Other teams will experience that too."
Leon Goretzka: "We played a good game overall and had many chances. In the end, we deserved to win all three points. That's very important in terms of the results of other teams. We had situations where it felt effortless and we combined well. It was cold, it wasn't the best conditions. On top of that, we're playing against an opponent in great form who have won five on the bounce. In those circumstances, it's not so easy. And when you are only leading by one goal, you have to fight in those last ten minutes."
Reaction from the Freiburg camp
Christian Streich (SC Freiburg head coach): "It started badly with Santamaria's injury and the goal we conceded. That was a difficult period. After 15 minutes we got into the game and played well. After making it 1-1 we were a little too deep and then we went 2-1 down. But we had our chances as well. We did everything. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to score the second goal. Bayern's victory isn’t undeserved, but we could have equalised."
Nils Petersen (SC Freiburg goalscorer): "The performances, not just today, but also in the last few weeks, have been very promising. We’ve taken a big step forward. It's tough to play against us, but in the end Bayern were one goal better than us today. But more could have been possible."
Nicolas Höfler (SC Freiburg): "It's a shame we have nothing to show for it. Bayern were beatable today - I mean we could have picked up a point. We played a really good game for the most part but unfortunately, we didn't reward ourselves in the end. We’ve come together well over the season and developed an appetite for goals. We’re disappointed because we had the huge chance at the end. A point would have been great."
Bayern better Freiburg - the match report:
Topics of this article