Müller leads tributes to 'outstanding' Bayern

After scoring twice and setting up another in FC Bayern München's sensational 4-0 UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg victory against FC Barcelona, Thomas Müller told UEFA.com it felt "great" to have handed the four-time competition winners one of their heaviest European defeats. Captain Philipp Lahm applauded the Bavarians' tactical nous, while Arjen Robben could "barely believe" the winning margin.

Thomas Müller, Bayern forward
It feels great. We put in an outstanding performance. The way in which we beat them was superb – we gave everything. Everyone battled and ran their hearts out. It was just the job. It's no secret that we have a lot of quality going forward. We've had some big wins recently, but to beat them like this in a game of this magnitude is just brilliant.

I signalled to the bench that I'd picked up a knock before my second goal and was suffering from a bit of cramp, so I was preparing to come off, but we were still in possession so I had to keep going. Then I scored, which was obviously fantastic.

Everyone knows how strong Barcelona are at home, but we're in a great position and if I know this team, we'll be doing everything we can to progress. Nothing has been decided yet, but things could certainly be worse.

Philipp Lahm, Bayern defender
Barcelona are still a top side, but we knew we were capable of beating them if we worked well defensively, got our tactics right and were aggressive enough – and tonight we did just that. We've got a lot of quality in attack to hurt even the toughest opponents and we saw that today.

We said before the game that against a team as good as Barça we'd have to get 11 men behind the ball and then make the most of any spaces that open up. We did that really well tonight and managed to remain composed. Do that and you'll get your chances.

David Alaba, Bayern defender
As a young player, it was obviously a great experience. I try to enjoy games like this, but we haven't got much time to celebrate because we've got to do it all over again next week.

We played as a unit – teamwork was our greatest quality tonight. We wanted to do well and lots of things worked out for us. We need to go into next week's game fully focused and make sure we keep it tight.

Arjen Robben, Bayern forward
It's crazy and I can barely believe it. Barcelona have dominated Europe for the last five years. We can be very proud. We need to remain grounded, but of course we can enjoy a night like this. We started well and I had a good chance straight away. You could really feel that we were up for it. We fought together and all worked back defensively. That was the key to the victory.

Bastian Schweinsteiger, Bayern midfielder
We tried to put them under pressure and managed to do so. The opening exchanges were something of a learning experience as we've never played against a team like that before. It got easier as the game went on, though, and we put a lot of effort in. It's nice that it paid off.