“We were in the game until the final whistle”

BAYER 04 LEVERKUSEN 1-0 1. FSV MAINZ 05

Niko Bungert (sporting director): “I think we gave a courageous showing against the reigning German champions. We defended very diligently and managed to stay in the game until the final whistle. The performance is the main thing, especially against Leverkusen and also with this being our second match of the week already. It’s obviously disappointing right now after having experienced that winning feeling fairly regularly of late with some good results but the result is ultimately an acceptable one since we gave it everything.”

Robin Zentner: “We didn’t really go for it until too late in the day and we weren’t clever enough in terms of creating chances. We tried to attack wide too often instead of just hitting them centrally. I feel so bad for Jonny personally after he picked up this new injury but it’s also really tough for us as the team to take. He’s a very important player for us, scoring a lot of goals and always demonstrating great mentality, so his loss obviously hits us hard.”

Danny da Costa: “We don’t feel so bad after the game today because we played well defensively for long stretches. It’s not particularly surprising that a team like Bayer Leverkusen wants to control possession, but I think we defended well for the most part. The problem was that we seemed too hectic when we did get on the ball. Of course, we wanted to win the game, but we were too sloppy when it came down to those decisive moments. Nevertheless, there are still some positives to take home from today’s game. We remain on the right track and hopefully we can prove that again in Berlin at the weekend.”