FC Bayern beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-0 thanks to a strong second-half display on Saturday. Munich, who played against decimated opponents for more than 70 minutes after Jens Castrop saw a red card, took the lead through Joshua Kimmich (64’) before subs Raphaël Guerreiro (69’) and Lennart Karl (81’) scored. “We turned in a strong team display, we’ll build on that. We have a really good feeling after the match and ahead of the cup game at Köln,” keeper Jonas Urbig commented. fcbayern.com has the rest of the post-match reaction for you.
Reaction to Gladbach v Bayern
Board member for sport Max Eberl: “Gladbach got a grip after the red card and closed down the space extremely well. We could have taken a very early lead. Then it was a game of patience to some extent, it was about wearing our opponents down. It was clear we’d get our chances. They came in the second half, and at the end of the day it was a deserved victory. It definitely wasn’t easy, but we kept our cool and kept going. Patience is an important part of our play, and we showed that today.”
Vincent Kompany: “It was very emotional in the first half, Gladbach fought for every ball. They often neutralised our forwards. We felt they gave it everything despite the red card – the fans cheered many moments. We stayed calm and tried to keep the emotions in check. We kept up the tempo in the second half and played many cross-field balls. You have to take your chances at some point, and that’s what we did.”
Joshua Kimmich: “It definitely was a game of patience. At the beginning, my impression was Gladbach wanted to press high. They had ambitious plans, they were bold and got off to a decent start. Of course we should have taken the lead after the first minute. But the red card made it a game of patience, they changed their plan then and sat really deep. We knew we had to stay calm and patient. Our 13 competitive victories at the start are no coincidence, it’s the reward for hard work, consistent training and a clear structure in the team. We have a really good team, you can see the lads who come on are ready immediately. That’s crucial. We’re happy for each other when they score or set up a goal. Our team is very homogenous, without everything being all sunshine and roses. It’s about performance, everyone wants to assert themselves, but we all do it for the team.”
Jonas Urbig: “We defended well, one or two situations aside. The team made it easy for me, I had almost nothing to do. It was a typical game of patience. We had to wear down our opponents in the first half, even though we had some chances we could have taken. We rewarded ourselves in the second half, we scored the goals and won. It was a bit of a derby for me personally, as a former Köln player, I’m particularly glad about it. I have a really good feeling ahead of the cup game at Köln. We turned in a strong team display, we’ll build on that.”
Reaction from the Gladbach camp
Head coach Eugen Polanski: “No coach is satisfied after losing. We know how good Bayern are. Our goal was to prevent Bayern from looking good, so I’m proud of our performance today.”
Kevin Stöger: “We showed what we can do when we don’t have the ball, in the first half in particular. We all know how hard it is against FC Bayern, even with 11 men. We were reduced to ten early on. We can really praise ourselves for the first half, but we perhaps lacked the energy in the second half. Bayern did a good job then, which makes it extremely bitter.”
Philipp Sander (Borussia Mönchengladbach): “If you see a red card, it’s much harder against a team that’s incredibly strong anyway. I think we did a good job for a relatively long time. We can see our performance in perspective. We can certainly take a few positive things away. But at the end of the day, we failed to take points, and that’s what counts.”
The match report:
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