Reaction to comeback at Mainz - Vincent Kompany: 'I love this mentality'

FC Bayern produced a stunning comeback from 3-0 down at half-time to triumph 4-3 at 1. FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday afternoon. Nicolas Jackson (53rd minute), Michael Olise (73’), Jamal Musiala (81’) and Harry Kane (83’) scored the goals in a memorable second half. “We celebrated like we’d saved ourselves from relegation – I love this kind of mentality,” said Vincent Kompany afterwards. Musiala already looked ahead: “We need this feeling for the coming weeks if we want to win more.” fcbayern.com has gathered all the post-match reaction from an emotional victory on the road.

Reaction to the match at Mainz

Christoph Freund: “We didn’t play well in the first half. Then to react like that is incredible. This team is very special, this team spirit, this mentality, this character – it’s really one of a kind. This gives us a lot of energy for Tuesday too.”

Vincent Kompany: “We weren’t that bad in terms of our enthusiasm and energy in the first 20 minutes, but we didn’t get into the penalty box. That can happen sometimes, but then you shouldn’t concede. It felt like it could’ve been four or five before the break. Then it’s about quality and mentality. The way the team rose to the challenge in the second half… We celebrated like we’d saved ourselves from relegation. I love this kind of mentality. When you need a miracle at the end of the season, you can’t start from nothing. You have to gain the feeling and the belief, and that was always there today. That’s the basis for me.”

Leon Goretzka: “We were given a fair dressing-down at half-time and then we showed again what makes us strong. In life you can get setbacks and in a football match you can be behind, but it always comes down to how you react to it. Thankfully we again proved today that we have a very special team.”

Harry Kane: “The first half was tough. We fell below our usual standard in terms of how we approach every game. We didn’t control the counters well enough, our defensive cover wasn’t good enough. We were a bit sloppy with the ball. And you have to give Mainz credit: they punished us in a lot of actions. We said at half-time that we needed to bring more energy and intensity in. And I think you saw that from the first minute of the second half. Obviously you need to show quality too, and I think we did that with the goals we scored. Credit to everyone – coming back from 3-0 down at half-time shows the mentality we have.”

Jamal Musiala: “It’s a good thing for all of us that we haven’t let our mentality drop despite winning the title. We could’ve easily lost 3-0 and carried on, but the fact we still have the hunger to turn the game around, to celebrate as if we’d won the title, is a good feeling. We need this feeling for the coming weeks if we want to win more.”

Reaction from Mainz

Urs FIscher (coach): “It’s still hard to find the right words. But it’s easy to summarise: we played a top first half and then almost stopped in the second half. When I think about how brave we were in the first half despite great pressure from Bayern – we kept managing to escape by being brave in our passing. We spoke at the break about not retreating, not thinking about just defending the 3-0 lead – but that’s exactly what happened. You need 90 impressive minutes to be able to beat Bayern. We didn’t manage that today, which hurts.”

Dominik Kohr (defender): “It’s really annoying. We played so well in the first half and deservedly led 3-0. Bayern just completely took us apart in the second half with their quality. We played great power football in the first half, but a few of us ran out of steam in the second half. I saw a lack of courage to want the ball from some of us. We know the quality we have in the team but you can’t just produce it for 45 minutes.”

Nadiem Amiri (midfielder): “I’m lost for words right now. We had an unbelievable first half. The quality that was unleashed after that – you can’t defend against that. It’s the best example of why Bayern are the best team in the world at the moment. We knew we had to defend well, soak up pressure and use our moments with the ball. Of course, that made the second half all the more shocking. We weren’t as direct in our forward play, attacks broke down here and there. We have to keep going now, it’s still in our own hands.”

The match report: