Schmidt rues missed chance, Jesus not satisfied

• Leverkusen captain Simon Rolfes disappointed at failure to finish top of Group C
• Werkself forward Robbie Kruse says it was Bayer's own fault they slipped to second
• Benfica defender César man of the match on first UEFA Champions League start
• Brazilian says Benfica will now focus on securing domestic trophies
• Round of 16 draw takes place in Nyon at 12.00CET on 15 December

Jorge Jesus, Benfica coach
We created the better chances and were excellent against a team I always considered to be the strongest in the group. To be able to play with this intensity and this quality in a match like this, shows lots of personality. I'm happy with the response that the team and the players gave tonight.

We knew this was a group where anyone could finish first or last. We were the only ones to beat Monaco, and Monaco ended up winning the group. That shows how even the group was. We are happy with what we did today, but overall we are not totally satisfied as we could and should have done better, despite the quality of the other teams in the group.

César, Benfica defender
I am very happy with the opportunity to play in the first team and in the UEFA Champions League. Of course we did not want to finish our campaign bottom of the table but the group was very strong. Now we have to focus on our domestic competitions as we are looking to win trophies this season.

Everybody could see our commitment tonight and I think we deserved to win. We played well and did what the coach asked. We could have won but we had no luck in front of goal. We are happy with our overall performance tonight.

Roger Schmidt, Leverkusen coach
We are disappointed not to go through as the top team in the group, but we didn't score in our last two matches. In the first half we were weak. Second half we started strongly but failed to score. We have to improve for the last 16.

It's no shame to draw at Benfica. Now we're in the last 16, there'll be many strong sides and even if we had won the group we could still have played Paris Saint-Germain or FC Barcelona – but we are still disappointed we didn't finish top because now we won't play the second leg at home. The team have shown they know how to play under pressure. Although the first half was the worst of our six matches, in a tough group we've done very well.

Simon Rolfes, Leverkusen midfielder
The first half wasn't our best. Benfica played very well with fast attacking players and we were not compact so they had a lot of space to play. The second half was better. We were more creative and had more possession but not a lot of chances. The game was mostly contested in midfield and that's why it ended 0-0. Our goal was to win here and to finish first.

We are disappointed we have not achieved this and it means that in the next round we'll have to play one of the first-placed teams, so we have to wait and see who'll be our opposition. They are all good teams in the last 16 and whoever we play will be tough.

Robbie Kruse, Leverkusen forward
We didn't play well and we didn't press or do anything that we normally do. It was disappointing. Of course we thought we had an opportunity to win the match and with it the group, but the players they brought in are not bad players. They had something to prove to their coach. It wasn't a good performance from us, we didn't get the points we needed and we'll suffer the consequences of coming second.

The last two games we've had the chance to win and finish top so it was our fault. All the top-placed finishers will be difficult to play. They are all massive clubs. We're not really thinking about that but of course we've made our task more difficult. The best teams in each group usually finish top and we're under no illusions that it's going to be difficult. That's the way it is now.