Following the important 2-1 away win in the first leg of the Champions League play-off tie against Celtic, the Bayern camp was full of smiling faces. “We are satisfied and need to keep going,” commented man of the match Dayot Upamecano, who had paired in defence with Eric Dier. Team leader Joshua Kimmich added with pride: “You could see today that we've taken a step forward. There's been a learning curve.” fcbayern.com has more of the post-match reactions from Board Member for Sport Max Eberl, Head Coach Vincent Kompany and more.
Reaction to play-off first leg at Celtic
Max Eberl: “I read that Celtic hadn't lost at home in 35 games in succession this season and the last. Obviously, that makes it an important win for us too. This just feels good for what lies ahead. You could tell the team woke up pretty quickly because we were all quite shocked initially. We improved during the course of the game and eventually scored the well-deserved 2-0. It was unnecessary to concede from a set-piece and make it a nervous finish, but overall this was a complicated away game and we deserved the win. Every win is good for us and now we've made it out of this seething cauldron they call Paradise. This was really hard work tonight and required a lot of legwork. Now, we can't afford to lower our level of performance for long. We have to build back up to that level on Friday, because the next top match awaits us on Saturday.”
Vincent Kompany: “It's a win but it's only half-time. Usually, Celtic loses very few home games in European competitions. So it's a good, satisfying win we're happy to take on board. We're strong at home too and are looking forward to next Tuesday. The first moment in the game was far from ideal, but we defended with great discipline, even in difficult moments towards the end when they added another striker. We remained solid until the end and, yes, we deserved to win. But we win a lot of games and we want this to keep happening.”
Manuel Neuer: “Celtic had a really long unbeaten home run and that's not easy to achieve. We showed a very good performance and dominated. Celtic was really only dangerous once they had so many set-pieces. We weren't always ideally positioned, but overall we deserved to win here. We didn't buckle under the pressure. We could have been cooler in certain situations, but we remained level-headed for most of the game and played smart football. It was really important not to concede another goal and drive home with a draw. It was very loud here. It's rare to experience such an atmosphere and that was special for us.”
Joshua Kimmich: “We managed to keep it really quiet here for quite a long time. Towards the end, it was really loud. We lost a bit of control after the 2-0 and immediately the fans were there. It's always difficult to control a game completely for 95 minutes. It is what we ask of ourselves, but we do realize it's not that easy to do here, particularly when Celtic gain some momentum. I felt the 2-1 was a little unnecessary. Apart from the early offside goal, we had kept them away from our goal quite well until then.
It was very important today to defend well until the very end. We did that and Manuel showed one or two strong saves too. Overall, it was a good game for our team spirit. Our focus today was on defending. We know how important it is to avoid mistakes in the Champions League in particular. We learned that lesson the hard way in our previous away games. You could see today that we've taken a step forward. There's been a learning curve. This is how we have to keep going.”
Dayot Upamecano: “It was a very tough game in a great stadium, against a great opponent. We won and we're satisfied. We did a very good job and kept the ball away from goal. Eric Dier hasn't played many games recently and showed a great performance today. We're all satisfied. We have to keep going. It was a difficult game because Celtic sit deep and play the ball forward quickly. You have to be alert in every situation. That was important today. “
Konrad Laimer: “It's fun to play here. It was definitely a step in the right direction. You can always concede a goal, that's not the end of the world. However, you can't afford to lose the momentum in a game. We're on a good path forward and we've always said that. We've won many games this season already and there's still room for improvement. The way we play football and the way our squad is put together, I have great confidence this can be a very good second half of the season.”
Reaction from the Celtic camp
Brendan Rodgers (head coach): ”The first minute went really well for us. It was a fantastic goal. Unfortunately, it was disallowed. I think our problem in the first half was that we were too passive. I think we were a bit timid playing against an absolute top team. Many of our players experienced this level for the first time. We didn't give too many chances away in defence, but we didn't do enough with the ball. In the second half, we scored the goal and it was an open game again. We looked dangerous in that moment. That's the confidence we're taking on board for next week.”
Read more about the game in our report:
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