FC Bayern München can almost definitely start planning for the Champions League quarter-finals after they thrashed Arsenal 5-1 in the first leg of the last 16 in spectacular fashion. The entire team performed brilliantly against a Gunners side that included world champions Mesut Özil and Shkodran Mustafi, even though Bayern found themselves temporarily in a bit of hot water after Alexis Sanchez’ equaliser. However things ran very smoothly for the home side once Robert Lewandowski headed in to regain Carlo Ancelotti’s team the lead. Bayern defender and world champion Mats Hummels speaks to DFB.de about the strong performance against their favourite opponents, Arsenal’s contentious penalty and the goal from super-sub Thomas Müller.
Interviewer: Mr Hummels, do you have one foot in the quarter-finals with this 5-1 win over Arsenal?
Mats Hummels: We’re definitely halfway there. It is a fantastic result and one we would not have predicted beforehand, so we can be really pleased. A good performance, a superb result; there’s not much I can fault. We struggled slightly after 20 minutes when we were a bit too casual and careless. But Arsenal are a good side and we raised the tempo and intensity after the break. Then Arsenal for whatever reason were unable to stop us.
Interviewer: Did this victory prove that Bayern always turn up when it really matters?
Hummels: I haven’t looked at the cup game against Wolfsburg or the Bundesliga match against Ingolstadt particularly closely. We obviously don’t always put on an amazing show but we always prove that we have a strong mentality. Sometimes it just so happens, as was the case this time, that you combine really well and score great goals. But the opposition also has to contribute to that and give you the space. The important thing is that we play with the right mentality as a team and we’ve done that in the last three matches.
Interviewer: What is your view on the most controversial moments from the game, such as the one where Bayern could have been given a penalty for handball?
Hummels: In my view it has hit him. I don’t know how his arm was positioned but I didn’t think, “that is the most stone-wall penalty I’ve seen in a long time.” I couldn’t really judge it well from where I was standing.
Interviewer: What did you make of Robert Lewandowski’s foul for the Arsenal penalty?
Hummels: I did think when it happened that the referee has to give it and unfortunately he got that one right. I don’t know if you could potentially say it was high foot from Lauren Koscielny but if you don’t, then it is a clear foul.
Interviewer: What led to Bayern playing like that in the second half?
Hummels: We also started well in the first half, we just didn’t manage to keep it up over the full 45 minutes. We were particularly strong in the first 15 to 20 minutes. We lacked a bit of determination after that and we couldn’t find the target. Arsenal had two or three counters as well as the penalty and we didn’t deal with that well enough in the first half. We managed to play like we had done at the beginning of the first half after the break.
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FC Bayern München can almost definitely start planning for the Champions League quarter-finals after they thrashed Arsenal 5-1 in the first leg of the last 16 in spectacular fashion. The entire team performed brilliantly against a Gunners side that included world champions Mesut Özil and Shkodran Mustafi, even though Bayern found themselves temporarily in a bit of hot water after Alexis Sanchez’ equaliser. However things ran very smoothly for the home side once Robert Lewandowski headed in to regain Carlo Ancelotti’s team the lead. Bayern defender and world champion Mats Hummels speaks to DFB.de about the strong performance against their favourite opponents, Arsenal’s contentious penalty and the goal from super-sub Thomas Müller.
Interviewer: Mr Hummels, do you have one foot in the quarter-finals with this 5-1 win over Arsenal?
Mats Hummels: We’re definitely halfway there. It is a fantastic result and one we would not have predicted beforehand, so we can be really pleased. A good performance, a superb result; there’s not much I can fault. We struggled slightly after 20 minutes when we were a bit too casual and careless. But Arsenal are a good side and we raised the tempo and intensity after the break. Then Arsenal for whatever reason were unable to stop us.
Interviewer: Did this victory prove that Bayern always turn up when it really matters?
Hummels: I haven’t looked at the cup game against Wolfsburg or the Bundesliga match against Ingolstadt particularly closely. We obviously don’t always put on an amazing show but we always prove that we have a strong mentality. Sometimes it just so happens, as was the case this time, that you combine really well and score great goals. But the opposition also has to contribute to that and give you the space. The important thing is that we play with the right mentality as a team and we’ve done that in the last three matches.
Interviewer: What is your view on the most controversial moments from the game, such as the one where Bayern could have been given a penalty for handball?
Hummels: In my view it has hit him. I don’t know how his arm was positioned but I didn’t think, “that is the most stone-wall penalty I’ve seen in a long time.” I couldn’t really judge it well from where I was standing.
Interviewer: What did you make of Robert Lewandowski’s foul for the Arsenal penalty?
Hummels: I did think when it happened that the referee has to give it and unfortunately he got that one right. I don’t know if you could potentially say it was high foot from Lauren Koscielny but if you don’t, then it is a clear foul.
Interviewer: What led to Bayern playing like that in the second half?
Hummels: We also started well in the first half, we just didn’t manage to keep it up over the full 45 minutes. We were particularly strong in the first 15 to 20 minutes. We lacked a bit of determination after that and we couldn’t find the target. Arsenal had two or three counters as well as the penalty and we didn’t deal with that well enough in the first half. We managed to play like we had done at the beginning of the first half after the break.
