Oliver Baumann: “It was a decent game from us and also dominant in the second half, we had a lot of possession. But the penetration was missing. We went forward well and defended a lot, I can actually praise a lot of things. Nonetheless, we go home empty-handed and are disappointed. I think we were also lacking the scoring chances in order to be able to say that we were knocked out undeservedly. The referee has already said just now that Ozan Kabak’s sending-off was not correct. It probably wouldn’t have changed the game, but it wasn’t deserved.”
Ihlas Bebou: “Dortmund were of course very strong, we invited them to counter-attack from time to time. The game was open for a long time, but we didn’t manage to create enough chances. The final ball was missing. Dortmund are a strong team and perform well. We have to keep our heads up, we have another game on Saturday. Leverkusen are in very good form, we know what to expect. But we also have quality and want to show that again at the weekend.”
Pellegrino Matarazzo: “We started the game well and had chances to take the lead. But BVB were then more dominant and had the better of the game. Despite a certain amount of control, we didn’t manage to create chances in the second half. That’s why we did not deserve to progress. We were somewhat lacking energy at the end and the changes unfortunately didn’t have the impact I would’ve liked. Bambasé Conté deserved to play today. He settled into the game straightaway, has an eye for space and very good acceleration with the ball. He is a really good lad with extremely high potential.”
Edin Terzic (Borussia Dortmund coach): “It was a deserved win, but we didn’t succeed in achieving a bigger scoreline. We took a considerable step forwards. Not only by qualifying for the next round, but with our attacking play too. We had to survive TSG’s big chance in the second minute. We unfortunately couldn’t use the counter-attacking spaces in the second half, we want to improve in that regard. Otherwise, we’re very satisfied with the performance and the qualification for the next round.”