Leno: "Four clean sheets are the icing on the cake"

Bernd Leno had two reasons to celebrate on Sunday. Not only did his Bayer Leverkusen team win 2-0 in the Rhine derby away to 1. FC Köln, with Chicharito and Germany U21 international Julian Brandt on the scoresheet, Leno himself also extended a personal record thanks to a series of good saves. The 24-year-old has now gone 393 minutes without conceding in the Bundesliga. In an interview with DFB.de, Leno spoke about the reasons for Leverkusen's good form, his great save from Simon Zoller's header and the top performance from his Germany U21 teammate Julian Brandt.

Question: Mr Leno, are you happy to have got revenge for your defeat in the reverse fixture?

Bernd Leno: Yes, absolutely, but it wasn't just about revenge today. It's obviously always nice to win in a derby. It's good for the fans and for the mood in the dressing room. The most important thing was that we took advantage when our rivals slipped up.

Question: You've now kept a clean sheet in four consecutive games. How do you feel about that?

Leno: It's obviously always nice to keep a clean sheet. It's the icing on the cake, but the three points are the main priority.

Question: You still had a lot to do. Simon Zoller's header must have been hard to keep out.

Leno: Yes, it was hard, not least of all because the post was in the way. As a goalkeeper, you have to put your neck on the line sometimes and fall into the goal. I had to do a similar thing in the win against Hamburg, so I guess I'm used to it.

Question: It got a bit heated in injury time. How did you see the sending off of Köln's Leonardo Bittencourt?

Leno: He slid into Admir Mehmedi. I can't say for sure whether or not it was a red card, but it's a shame one of our players then got shown a second yellow. I don't know exactly what Wendell did. Supposedly he shoved someone.

Question: You may well qualify for the Champions League this season. Are you going to stay in Leverkusen?

Leno: We'll see. There are always potential surprises in store. I won't say anything yet regarding contract situations.

Question: Your team were in a crisis five weeks ago. Is there a specific reason you've turned your fortunes around?

Leno: The game against Hamburg was a turning point. We didn't play spectacularly but a grubby win was exactly what we needed. After that, we put in some very good performances against Stuttgart and Wolfsburg. Things change very quickly in football. We were out of contention for Europa and now we're narrowly behind third place. We're thankful to be in this position at the business end of the season.

Question: How do you assess Julian Brandt's performance?

Leno: Everyone knows he has quality. He's a young player who has had some tough periods in which he hasn't played. Everyone who knows Julian knows that he's a good guy. I hope he keeps going and scores more goals for us in our coming games. He has a big future ahead of him.

Question: The team are out of the cup competitions. Is it an advantage to be able to fully focus on the league?

Leno: You notice that you have the whole week to prepare for a game. We also have injured players coming back, which improves the quality of our squad.