An assured performance and three crucial points in the race for the Champions League round of 16! FC Bayern beat Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1 in Gelsenkirchen on Tuesday night, overcoming an early deficit to run out deserved 5-1 winners. "We didn't start so well by conceding the early goal but we didn't let our heads drop," summarised Jamal Musiala, scorer of the fourth goal. "We grew into the game and got better and better, it was a steady performance overall," said head coach Vincent Kompany. fcbayern.com has compiled the post-match reaction.
Reaction to the Shakhtar match
Max Eberl (board member for sport): "We fell 1-0 behind but the team reacted well. We had a touch of luck when Donetsk had the chance to go 2-1 in front, but after that we regained control of the game, got the goal for 2-1 and showed the dominance we wanted in the second half. In the end, the margin of victory was deserved. I liked the team's reaction, especially how they adapted to the game. In the second half, we felt that desire to score goals again, which for me is the crucial thing. In terms of the table, we've now put ourselves into a position where we can finish in the top eight with two wins."
Vincent Kompany: "We stayed calm after conceding. We were clearly the better team in the first half and had one or two moments we should've done better with. We grew into the game and got better and better, it was a steady performance overall. We were dominant and had a lot of opportunities. Of course, you can always get better but we're on the right track."
Thomas Müller: "We're pleased. A match like this always has different phases. The goal we conceded caught us cold, but then we kept going and had a lot of moments through our pressing. They wanted to play out from the back but lost the ball some of the time, too. The way we scored our second goal, we could've scored several more like that. It's important that we stick at it. It's not to be taken for granted that we stay ruthless after going 3-1 up and that the attacking players, the magicians, want to keep scoring goals. That has to be our top priority."
Jamal Musiala: "It was very nice. We didn't start so well by conceding the early goal but we didn't let our heads drop. We do our things and the second goal opened the game up and we were all able to have a bit more fun. Michael, me – everyone was able to show something. The title is obviously the objective and the dream of ours, but we shouldn't look too far ahead. We just have to take it one game at a time, keep getting better as a team and then hopefully we'll get far in the Champions League."
Konrad Laimer: "We executed our chances better towards the end. We were still a bit untidy to begin with and weren't as aggressive. After that we got into the game more and deserved to win by the margin we did. All in all it was a very convincing win for us. It's always fun when you score goals. It was very important. We keep going, we're on a good track, we have two games left and we want to win both. We want to finish among the top eight."
Michael Olise: "We conceded early but reacted quickly and scored the equaliser. Then we carried on with our game plan and it was rewarded. We're happy and we'll continue taking it one game at a time."
Reaction from the Shakhtar camp
Marino Pušić (head coach): "We have young players without much experience but they played with courage. Obviously they're going to make mistakes. I'm proud of their performance. It's not easy to compete against the best teams in the world. I like to use young players – this is sometimes the price you pay. That's how they develop and they'll be able to help the team even more in the next match. We let the match slip at the end of the first half, but I can't complan about how my players went about it. They gave everything. Mistakes are punished very quickly at this level. When you concede five goals, that's too many but we played against an excellent team. We have an attacking mindset and we're not going to change that even for these opponents."
Read about the key moments in the match report:
Topics of this article