Stindl: “It was a game on a knife’s edge”

Following the narrow 4-3 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen, the Foals’ captain Lars Stindl discussed the match with the media. The striker, who hit a brace in the game, spoke about…

…the way the game played out: We didn’t bring our A game with us to Leverkusen like we have done in previous weeks. It didn’t go as we were hoping it would. Despite that though, we took the lead twice and in the first half we had four clear chances to extend that lead, but unfortunately we weren’t able to convert those chances. After the interval, the game opened up a bit but when you take into account the way the match as a whole played out, it wasn’t our day. We have to admit that Leverkusen deserved the win.

…a strong opponent: We knew beforehand that Leverkusen are a team who press very hard and play intense football. They played in the Europa League on Thursday so we had two more days of recovery, but the Leverkusen players didn’t seem to notice that at all. As a team, they pressed our defence well and created some good chances from that, but at the same time we also had chances and did well at winning the ball back. In the first half especially, we had some golden chances to score one or two more before half time and just before they made it 3-2, we had a big opportunity to take the lead ourselves. For long periods it was a game on a knife’s edge, but in the end they were just that little bit better.

…his two goals: As an attacker, you’re always trying your hardest to help the team through providing goals and assists. When you score, you’re always hoping that you’ll win the game and that your contribution has made a difference. Unfortunately on this occasion, my brace didn’t make a difference to the overall outcome as we lost the match.

…Valentino Lazaro’s wondergoal: Tino’s goal was unbelievable. In the moment he scored it, I couldn’t understand what he was trying to do. You don’t score goals like that every day! But unfortunately the goal was overshadowed a bit by the result, as the loss is the most important thing for us and we were first and foremost disappointed by that.