“That can’t be happening” - #BMGB04 reaction

We heard the thoughts from the players and coaches after Borussia’s 2-1 loss to Bayer Leverkusen in Saturday’s Bundesliga Topspiel.

Marvin Friedrich: Of course I would have preferred to make a winning start to life as a Borussia player. I thought that we got into the game well in the first half. Yann Sommer kept us in it after the break. Nevertheless, we conceded two goals from set-pieces – that can’t be happening. We have to defend them better. In my opinion, a lot of penalties are being given since VAR came in. Players are looking for any kind of contact. I will have to take another look at the two penalty decisions though. I’ve only been here for four days, but the lads have made me feel right at home. All in all, it’s gone well so far, but obviously there are some things I need to get the hang of still. That will come in time though, I’m sure.

László Bénes: I thought we played well in the first half. We created a number of chances, although Leverkusen weren’t without their moments. Yann then made two penalty saves in the second half, but we already knew just how good a goalkeeper he is. The first penalty save should have given us some momentum, but we conceded seconds later from the corner-kick – that can’t happen. The goals we conceded were too soft. After Nico’s goal, we had the sense that we could get a result. We were in it right until the end, but it just wasn’t enough. We have to keep on working hard and focus on the next game.

Adi Hütter: I think Leverkusen’s win is fair enough considering the 90 minutes as a whole. We were hoping to pick up where we left off against Bayern, but we weren’t able to do that today. I thought it was an even first half in which we had some good moments. The goal from a corner right after Yann Sommer had saved a penalty put us on the path to defeat though. We then conceded the second goal from a set-piece too. The team kept fighting until the end. They gave it everything and managed to get a goal back, but unfortunately we fell short of an equaliser.

Bayer Leverkusen head coach Gerardo Seoane: I have to give my team credit for their performance today. I thought we were very fast and dynamic going forward in the first half. We were just missing that accuracy and clinical edge in the final third. I think the win is a fair result though based on our second-half performance. With the two penalties and a couple of other chances, I think we deserved two or three goals. There were almost some flashbacks in the final 15 minutes, worried that we were going to throw away our lead from set pieces like in recent games. The team gave it their all though and managed to see the result over the line. They threw themselves into every challenge and fought for every ball.