“We can be proud” - Real Madrid match reaction

We gathered the thoughts of the Borussia camp after Tuesday night’s 2-2 UEFA Champions League draw with Real Madrid.

Lars Stindl: It feels a bit like a defeat. We put in a great performance and fought hard. When you’re 2-0 up against Real Madrid here at BORUSSIA-PARK with just a few minutes to go, you obviously want to get the win. We really tried to defend with all we had for the final half an hour. Both of their goals were very similar. The overwhelming feeling right now is disappointment, but we can be proud of our performance. We were up against one of the best teams in the world. We wanted to do something special and it looked for a long time like we would.

Yann Sommer: It’s obviously disappointing to throw away a 2-0 lead so late on. We knew that we would have to deal with wave after wave of attacks, but we defended well for much of the game. It was a good performance and we took advantage of the slight weaknesses that Real have. The problem is that we conceded late on yet again – it’s something we have to address. We can build on our two points so far; there are a lot of positives to take from these first two games.

Marco Rose: It can’t get much more painful that conceding two late goals to miss out on a win. You have to recognise the quality that Real Madrid have too though – they threw everything at it in the closing stages. I said to the lads at half time that we were looking very solid and I felt confident in the second half. Our legs got a little heavy towards the end though and Real piled on the pressure, so we weren’t able to plug all the gaps. When so many crosses are put into the box, one of them will find the back of the net eventually. I can’t fault my team, they put in a really good performance.

Sporting director Max Eberl: It’s hard to put into words. If you had said before the game that we would draw 2-2 against Real Madrid, then you would have expected us to have played well, but to have deservedly led 2-0 at home and still only ended up drawing really hurts. You could see that we struggled to hold up the ball in attack during the final ten minutes or so. Real Madrid had a lot of quality on the pitch with the likes of Luka Modric, Karim Benzema and Eden Hazard. You got the sense that it was going to be a close call. The first goal is more frustrating than the second for me – that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Despite all the disappointment and frustration, we can still say that we gave Real Madrid a real game. We pushed them all the way. They will certainly remember us as a team that they failed to beat and only just managed to get a point against.