Finally back to the cup semi-finals! Bayern Munich defeated RB Leipzig 2-0 on Wednesday night to advance to the semi-finals for the first time in six years. There was jubilation in the Bundesliga leaders’ camp afterwards. “We stayed calm and composed today,” praised head coach Vincent Kompany. His captain Manuel Neuer praised the second-half attitude, which showed “maturity until the end”.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Tah is already looking to the future. “It’s going to be special to get to Berlin. That’s a very clear goal for us.” Bayern Football Club website Rounding up the rest of the post-game reactions for you.
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Reaction to cup match against RB Leipzig
Herbert Hainer (President): “We have a big dream to go to Berlin again like in 2020. Today it was a well-deserved victory. Especially in the second half, we were the better side. There is no doubt that Leipzig are good opponents, but our team deserves credit for the way they turned the advantage into goals. We gave up almost nothing – almost no scoring chances. So, overall, it was a well-deserved win and a good performance.”
Max Eberl (Sports Committee Member): “We still competed in all three competitions – we are very proud of that. RB were more dominant in the first half at Leipzig than tonight. After the first 20 minutes we had better control and then had some good chances. It was evenly matched at times, but you could feel our dominance. The second half was classic knockout football: stay calm, create chances, let some of them slip away and keep going. Then we got a penalty, 1-0, 2-0, a clean finish, that’s how you win the knockout rounds.”
Vincent Kompany: “We were very solid, although we could have scored more goals. We had enough for one or two chances. Overall, we created a lot of good chances. Obviously we are happy with the 2-0 win – now we are in the semi-finals. There were certainly games where we showed It was more clinical but today we stayed calm and didn’t do anything stupid and just kept waiting for that moment. I never had any doubts that everyone was healthy and that could help us a lot in March and April.”
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Manuel Neuer: “We had a clear plan because we knew that the longer the game went on, the more chances we would have and the longer we could keep Leipzig under pressure, especially in the second half. It was of course important that we kept a clean sheet. There are always situations, especially set pieces or headers, that can be dangerous. We withstood them and I think we played really maturely until the end.”
Jonathan Towers: “It was a good game of football. Leipzig really performed well. They brought real intensity and asked us questions. But what we’ve noticed time and time again – and we’ve played them three times – is that at some point in the game, the momentum goes in our favor. Getting to Berlin will obviously be special. That’s our very clear goal, to get there and lift the trophy at the end. That’s what we’re going to do. Today you saw how hungry we are for it.”
Joshua Kimmich: “We didn’t have enough control in the first 20 minutes and Leipzig were a threat. We made too many mistakes with the ball and it was too easy to press us. After that we were in control. In the second half we were sure, we didn’t give up, it was dangerous to go forward and then bury the game. The most important thing today was that we barely missed any chance at the end to keep them away from the goal. Of course, we want to play at home and that’s obvious and we’re very confident going into Berlin now.”
Leipzig’s reaction
Oliver Mintzlaff (Chairman of the Supervisory Board): “Congratulations to Bayern for reaching the semi-finals. We performed well. We know it won’t be easy. We had a chance to take the lead in the first half – although Bayern also had a chance. We need this kind of performance now in the Bundesliga. We want to get into the Champions League.”
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Ole Werner (coach): “We need to be more precise in our attacking movements. Apart from that, some little things didn’t go our way today. I think Bayern deserved the win in the end because they had clearer chances and used their space well. The main thing we lacked was to take the lead for a period of time. In that case, it might have been different.
David Laum (captain): “It was a difficult day for me. Luck was not on our side. If you want to win in Munich, a lot of things have to come together, everything has to be right, and you also need a little bit of luck. There were two scenarios in the end where we might have slept on for a while. Bayern were brutal there. They were extremely efficient, but it’s difficult to win here.”
Match report:
Bayern beat Leipzig to advance to semi-finals
