Bayern Munich completed a resounding last 16 Champions League success over Arsenal by beating the London club 5-1 (10-2 on aggregate). World champion Mats Hummels spoke to DFB after the win about the tough first half, the overall performance and his wishes for the Quarter Finals.
Question: Mr Hummels, was the 55th minute the turning point of the tie? Arsenal were leading 1-0, with chances to make it two and then came the red card for Lauren Koscielny and the Robert Lewandowski’s equaliser from the spot.
Mats Hummels: Yes that was a tie defining moment. I think the referee made the right decision because Robert has been denied a goal scoring opportunity at the last minute. The equaliser took the wind out of Arsenal’s sails. From that point on there was no coming back for them. The game can be split into two, before and after the red card and our leveller. It totally changed the game.
Question: And before that key moment, how come the Bayern-motor wasn’t working as well as the previous weeks?
Bayern Munich completed a resounding last 16 Champions League success over Arsenal by beating the London club 5-1 (10-2 on aggregate). World champion Mats Hummels spoke to DFB after the win about the tough first half, the overall performance and his wishes for the Quarter Finals.
Question: Mr Hummels, was the 55th minute the turning point of the tie? Arsenal were leading 1-0, with chances to make it two and then came the red card for Lauren Koscielny and the Robert Lewandowski’s equaliser from the spot.
Mats Hummels: Yes that was a tie defining moment. I think the referee made the right decision because Robert has been denied a goal scoring opportunity at the last minute. The equaliser took the wind out of Arsenal’s sails. From that point on there was no coming back for them. The game can be split into two, before and after the red card and our leveller. It totally changed the game.
Question: And before that key moment, how come the Bayern-motor wasn’t working as well as the previous weeks?
Hummels: Until the red card we did not play as well as we have been in the last few weeks. We were sluggish, idle and maybe thought we had already done enough to qualify. We are not totally satisfied with the first half but everything was okay on the whole in the end and were able to score some great goals and be very effective.
Question: Two 5-1 wins makes for a 10-2 aggregate scoreline. Were these results a message to the rest of the sides in the competition?
Hummels: We are in the Quarter Finals. In theory that is four matches to go until the final. It’s possible we could get there, but we will have to deliver. The opponents from here will only get tougher. There will not be an easier round than that waiting for is. We are definitely in the right frame of mind to go further at the moment. It might be cliché but we have to take things game by game, think only a step at a time and not simply think we will make the final just because we have recorded two convincing wins.
Question: That is very modest thinking?
Hummels: If Paris can beat Barcelona 4-0 then you can see what happens when you have an off day. Maybe Barca can still turn it around and show just show quickly you can change your fortunes.
Question: Some teams aim for damage limitation when they know they’re out of the game, and try keeping the scoreline to a minimum. Arsenal didn’t do that.
Hummels: Of course they could have been content with a 1-1 or 1-2, thereby avoiding a heavier defeat. At the end the score was 1-5, and that looks great for us. Perhaps the Arsenal players believed they could score again. It’s their thing to keep on playing, but we managed to use that well against them. It reminds of when I was with Dortmund and we lost 1-5 to Bayern too. Despite the feeling we didn’t have a good game, when a team is as good as Bayern are, it easily become one-sided.
Question: After the first leg’s 5-1 result, did you have any problems getting motivated to play the return leg?
Hummels: We tried, as always, to just focus ourselves. In spite of this, we weren’t alert enough and didn’t give 100% in the first-half. We have to hold that against ourselves, because we didn’t have the same excitement on the way here, compared to previous weeks. I wouldn’t say that we were lazy, but Arsenal did win a lot of second balls, which caused us problems.
Question: The eleven that started for Bayern in London was the oldest squad to ever start in Champions League history for the club, with an average age of 30 years and 14 days old. How important is experience in this phase of the season?
Hummels: Really? I wasn’t aware of that. The experience and the composure that comes with that, as well as the footballing class we have on the pitch is definitely a factor. We’ve also seen however, that despite our experience, we had problems in the first-half. A perfect team wouldn’t let their opponents in with any sort of chance.
Question: Any sympathy for Arsenal?
Hummels: I don’t know if you can feel sorry for people in sport. You have to just give your best out there. Obviously the result looks unfortunate for them at the end of the day. Who knows, maybe we will meet again next year and we’ll be the ones to struggle. No you can’t have sympathy for them. The team who wins deserves to celebrate.
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Bayern Munich completed a resounding last 16 Champions League success over Arsenal by beating the London club 5-1 (10-2 on aggregate). World champion Mats Hummels spoke to DFB after the win about the tough first half, the overall performance and his wishes for the Quarter Finals.
Question: Mr Hummels, was the 55th minute the turning point of the tie? Arsenal were leading 1-0, with chances to make it two and then came the red card for Lauren Koscielny and the Robert Lewandowski’s equaliser from the spot.
Mats Hummels: Yes that was a tie defining moment. I think the referee made the right decision because Robert has been denied a goal scoring opportunity at the last minute. The equaliser took the wind out of Arsenal’s sails. From that point on there was no coming back for them. The game can be split into two, before and after the red card and our leveller. It totally changed the game.
Question: And before that key moment, how come the Bayern-motor wasn’t working as well as the previous weeks?
Bayern Munich completed a resounding last 16 Champions League success over Arsenal by beating the London club 5-1 (10-2 on aggregate). World champion Mats Hummels spoke to DFB after the win about the tough first half, the overall performance and his wishes for the Quarter Finals.
Question: Mr Hummels, was the 55th minute the turning point of the tie? Arsenal were leading 1-0, with chances to make it two and then came the red card for Lauren Koscielny and the Robert Lewandowski’s equaliser from the spot.
Mats Hummels: Yes that was a tie defining moment. I think the referee made the right decision because Robert has been denied a goal scoring opportunity at the last minute. The equaliser took the wind out of Arsenal’s sails. From that point on there was no coming back for them. The game can be split into two, before and after the red card and our leveller. It totally changed the game.
Question: And before that key moment, how come the Bayern-motor wasn’t working as well as the previous weeks?
Hummels: Until the red card we did not play as well as we have been in the last few weeks. We were sluggish, idle and maybe thought we had already done enough to qualify. We are not totally satisfied with the first half but everything was okay on the whole in the end and were able to score some great goals and be very effective.
Question: Two 5-1 wins makes for a 10-2 aggregate scoreline. Were these results a message to the rest of the sides in the competition?
Hummels: We are in the Quarter Finals. In theory that is four matches to go until the final. It’s possible we could get there, but we will have to deliver. The opponents from here will only get tougher. There will not be an easier round than that waiting for is. We are definitely in the right frame of mind to go further at the moment. It might be cliché but we have to take things game by game, think only a step at a time and not simply think we will make the final just because we have recorded two convincing wins.
Question: That is very modest thinking?
Hummels: If Paris can beat Barcelona 4-0 then you can see what happens when you have an off day. Maybe Barca can still turn it around and show just show quickly you can change your fortunes.
Question: Some teams aim for damage limitation when they know they’re out of the game, and try keeping the scoreline to a minimum. Arsenal didn’t do that.
Hummels: Of course they could have been content with a 1-1 or 1-2, thereby avoiding a heavier defeat. At the end the score was 1-5, and that looks great for us. Perhaps the Arsenal players believed they could score again. It’s their thing to keep on playing, but we managed to use that well against them. It reminds of when I was with Dortmund and we lost 1-5 to Bayern too. Despite the feeling we didn’t have a good game, when a team is as good as Bayern are, it easily become one-sided.
Question: After the first leg’s 5-1 result, did you have any problems getting motivated to play the return leg?
Hummels: We tried, as always, to just focus ourselves. In spite of this, we weren’t alert enough and didn’t give 100% in the first-half. We have to hold that against ourselves, because we didn’t have the same excitement on the way here, compared to previous weeks. I wouldn’t say that we were lazy, but Arsenal did win a lot of second balls, which caused us problems.
Question: The eleven that started for Bayern in London was the oldest squad to ever start in Champions League history for the club, with an average age of 30 years and 14 days old. How important is experience in this phase of the season?
Hummels: Really? I wasn’t aware of that. The experience and the composure that comes with that, as well as the footballing class we have on the pitch is definitely a factor. We’ve also seen however, that despite our experience, we had problems in the first-half. A perfect team wouldn’t let their opponents in with any sort of chance.
Question: Any sympathy for Arsenal?
Hummels: I don’t know if you can feel sorry for people in sport. You have to just give your best out there. Obviously the result looks unfortunate for them at the end of the day. Who knows, maybe we will meet again next year and we’ll be the ones to struggle. No you can’t have sympathy for them. The team who wins deserves to celebrate.
