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RB Leipzig lost an up-and-down match 3-2 to a strong Bayer 04 Leverkusen team in Saturday’s Bundesliga opener.
Here’s the reaction from the team.
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Match report
The game in pictures
Benjamin Henrichs
- “We weren’t incisive enough at key moments. We conceded three avoidable goals and when you do that, you lose. Conceding three goals certainly wasn’t something we expected to have to overcome. We have to improve in that regard if we want to justify our big ambitions this season. We’ve got to wait what’s possible for us this season. We want to be pushing at the top, but we’ve got to pick up point to do that. We didn’t play well enough today. It’s certainly not down to Loïs’ missed chance tomake it 3-3.
It was very special to play here in Leverkusen. I had to sort out almost 30 tickets.”
Marco Rose
- “It’s really disappointing. We want to win matches. What we set out to do didn’t come together today. We got back into the game despite conceding twice and found a goal before the break. We were more in control after half time. Their third goal was very unfortunate for us and now we’re going back home empty-handed.
We weren’t strong enough in the tackle and Leverkusen were very clever. Playing here isn’t easy, but conceding three goals is too many. We know what we’re capable of and that we canbe better.”
Yussuf Poulsen
- “Leverkusen put a lot of pressure on us in the first half and we struggled to get any respite. We didn’t have enough composure on the ball. We weren’t willing enough going into tackles. That was completely different in the second half. It was an avoidable defeat, but we also came up short in a number of areas today. However, you’ve got to admit that Leverkusen played really well. If they keep playing like that this season, they could definitely be in and around the top of the table.
Loïs is a good lad and we’re happy he’s here. He scored and could’ve bagged another. Just like in the friendlies, the link-up play with him was really good.”
Dani Olmo
- “Scoring before the break was important. We grew into the game more in the second half. We almost found an equaliser after getting back to 3-2. A point would have been deserved. Playing against Leverkusen is very difficult. We have to fully focus over the next few weeks. We showed what we can do in the Supercup. Today we didn’t manage to do that.
I had a good summer break and was able to recover well. I am back 100 percent fit and completely motivated for the season. We now want to improve even more week by week.”
