Leverkusen: Paris took us apart

In the end, it was a thoroughly depressing UEFA Champions League night for Bayer 04 Leverkusen with a 4-0 home defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16 first leg. While midfielder Roberto Hilbert spoke of "huge disappointment" and noted that Paris "did not even show everything they are capable of", team-mate Gonzalo Castro admitted with brutal honesty that the French side "simply took our system apart".

Roberto Hilbert, Leverkusen midfielder
If you think about how hard the team fought last season to reach the Champions League and then the knockout stage, this game is a huge disappointment. If you make a couple of mistakes against a team like Paris, they will exploit those mistakes without mercy, and honestly I believe they did not even show everything they are capable of. We are now going to Paris and will try to prove ourselves as well as we can. We don't have much choice.

Gonzalo Castro, Leverkusen midfielder
Paris showed us our limitations and did so for the entire 90 minutes. We conceded an early goal and already our hopes were fading away. If you are down 3-0 at half-time, the game is basically over.

We tried everything but were never really able to face the challenges and win them. They simply took our system apart. We just have to admit we have not yet reached Paris's level, by a long way.

Ömer Toprak, Leverkusen defender
Our first-half performance was always going to be crucial, but we played with fear and I really don't know why. We played very, very poorly during the first 45 minutes. We didn't win any challenges and made life much too easy for them. In the second half we tried to fight a bit more and sometimes it worked out, but in the end it was a very disappointing evening for us.

Stefan Reinartz, Leverkusen midfielder
I didn't feel we had any kind of spirit within the team. Somehow, everyone just ran for themselves, really.

Rudi Völler, Leverkusen sporting director
Such a defeat, by such a margin, really hurts. We are all really downcast.