Leverkusen shaken after Barcelona rout
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen midfielder Simon Rolfes spoke for his team-mates when he said it was "hard to find words" to describe their 7-1 drubbing at the hands of Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen are returning to Germany licking their wounds after a 7-1 mauling at the hands of a Lionel Messi-inspired FC Barcelona.
Robin Dutt's players know that once the pain subsides there are many lessons to be taken from their 7-1 defeat at Camp Nou, and still more importantly – as Stefan Kiessling and Simon Rolfes explained – they are aware that they need to rid themselves of the hangover and concentrate on their Bundesliga challenge so that the damage done in this ruthless defeat is kept to a minimum.
Simon Rolfes, Leverkusen midfielder
It's hard to find words. We wanted to play more offensively than in the first leg, but Barcelona punished us for this. The result hurts, but this [Barcelona] team is in a league of its own. If things go their way, they will win the Champions League this year as well.
The result owes a great deal to the quality of our opponents, but we made some mistakes, too. If the score is 5-0 or more, then everything has worked out for one team, but nothing has gone right for the other. Now the Champions League is over for us, but we have to focus on our Bundesliga campaign, in order to return to this competition next year.
Stefan Kiessling, Leverkusen striker
We did not give up in the second half, but Barcelona were ice-cold in front of goal. We have to forget about this quickly. Now it's all about the Bundesliga. We played and pressed well in the first half, but Barcelona still managed to conjour up two goals. When we became more attacking, they caught us off-guard. We are very disappointed. The whole team played badly today.
