Borussia Dortmund’s UEFA Europa League quarterfinal second-leg against Liverpool had it all last night. The end-to-end clash was exciting up until the final second, with the English side grabbing a late winner to put themselves in the competition’s last four. After the final whistle, DFB.de spoke to Mats Hummels about the match.
Question: That was certainly a bitter end from your perspective. What are your thoughs on the match?
Mats Hummels: That’s a very good question and one that we’ve already started to think about, however, we need more time to analyse it really. We needed to bring the game under control after going 3-1 up but unfortunately we didn’t see much of the ball after that point. We weren’t quite good enough at either end of the pitch towards the end of the game. Liverpool didn’t have too many chances but they were clinical. Excluding the goals, they didn’t have that many opportunities. Liverpool didn’t win the game today – we lost it.
Question: Thomas Tuchel sent out an attacking side. Do you think you should have sat back a bit after going 3-1 up? Sven Bender could have come on, for example…
Hummels: Maybe, but they main point is that we lost control of the game – we became reactive instead of proactive and lost concentration. We needed to be better on the ball and stronger in the tackle. Our level slipped and they punished us.
Question: Did you get ahead of yourselves then?
Hummels: I guess you could say so. After going 3-1 up we probably thought the job was done, but obviously it got nervy again after conceding the second. From there we gifted Liverpool the game. They didn’t look like getting back into it after we scored our third, yet they’re the ones in the semis.
Question: Were Liverpool mentally stronger?
Hummels: They always had faith. The atmosphere was incredible for sure and their fans will have had an amazing night. Quite simply, we should have remained in control throughout the match but we let our guard down at the important moments. They managed to capitalise on this.
Question: What does this mean for the rest of the season? The defeat was self-inflicted after all...
Hummels: That’s the thing, we shot ourselves in the foot. We didn’t play that well in the first-leg either and made a number of mistakes. People said that Liverpool defended well last week, but let’s be honest, we didn’t test them that much. Overall, we’re extremely disappointed because we had a realistic chance of lifting the title. Last night was definitely our most painful defeat of the season.
Taken from: DFB.de.
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Borussia Dortmund’s UEFA Europa League quarterfinal second-leg against Liverpool had it all last night. The end-to-end clash was exciting up until the final second, with the English side grabbing a late winner to put themselves in the competition’s last four. After the final whistle, DFB.de spoke to Mats Hummels about the match.
Question: That was certainly a bitter end from your perspective. What are your thoughs on the match?
Mats Hummels: That’s a very good question and one that we’ve already started to think about, however, we need more time to analyse it really. We needed to bring the game under control after going 3-1 up but unfortunately we didn’t see much of the ball after that point. We weren’t quite good enough at either end of the pitch towards the end of the game. Liverpool didn’t have too many chances but they were clinical. Excluding the goals, they didn’t have that many opportunities. Liverpool didn’t win the game today – we lost it.
Question: Thomas Tuchel sent out an attacking side. Do you think you should have sat back a bit after going 3-1 up? Sven Bender could have come on, for example…
Hummels: Maybe, but they main point is that we lost control of the game – we became reactive instead of proactive and lost concentration. We needed to be better on the ball and stronger in the tackle. Our level slipped and they punished us.
Question: Did you get ahead of yourselves then?
Hummels: I guess you could say so. After going 3-1 up we probably thought the job was done, but obviously it got nervy again after conceding the second. From there we gifted Liverpool the game. They didn’t look like getting back into it after we scored our third, yet they’re the ones in the semis.
Question: Were Liverpool mentally stronger?
Hummels: They always had faith. The atmosphere was incredible for sure and their fans will have had an amazing night. Quite simply, we should have remained in control throughout the match but we let our guard down at the important moments. They managed to capitalise on this.
Question: What does this mean for the rest of the season? The defeat was self-inflicted after all...
Hummels: That’s the thing, we shot ourselves in the foot. We didn’t play that well in the first-leg either and made a number of mistakes. People said that Liverpool defended well last week, but let’s be honest, we didn’t test them that much. Overall, we’re extremely disappointed because we had a realistic chance of lifting the title. Last night was definitely our most painful defeat of the season.
Taken from: DFB.de.
