“A very annoying feeling”

Nicolai Remberg: It’s a very annoying feeling, because we had a huge chance right at the end to come away from the game with at least a point. But Luka knows that I don’t blame him in the slightest. Quite often, we’ve shown that we can be a match for even the stronger teams at the Volksparkstadion. Today, we didn’t play well, but I wouldn’t call it a slump. We’ve just played against two top teams and narrowly lost. I think it’s good that we’re annoyed about not being in good form and not playing well. It says a lot about our aspirations. Of course, I was over the moon and very proud to have led the team as captain today. If someone had told me that as a little kid, I wouldn’t have believed them, It’s special.    

“As a promoted side against a Champions League team, having to have less of a presence up front is normal.”

Daniel Heuer Fernandes: Before the game, we set ourselves some lofty goals, but we couldn’t find the space to threaten. Our passing was inaccurate, and we struggled to get into the right positions. To be honest, against a high-quality opponent, we hardly had any chances for 70 minutes. But, as a promoted side against a Champions League team with a lot of possession, having to have less of a presence up front is normal, because otherwise you’ll just be completely outplayed. Still, we were in the game for a long time. At the end of the match, we tried everything and even had two chances through Otto and Luka. It’s a shame that they didn’t go in. On Saturday, another game awaits. We’re going to be ready for it. 

Daniel Elfadli: Today, we didn’t play the way that we like to play. Even against a team like Leverkusen, our aim is to bring our style of play to the table. We didn’t manage that today. As a collective, we didn’t produce the performance required to beat a team like them. It’s normal that we have a few bumps in the road. We’ve got to learn to deal with this process, too.  

“Our aim was to keep the game as open for as long as possible against such a strong opponent.”

Merlin Polzin: Congratulations to Leverkusen on a deserved victory. We came up against a team that get into and play in uncomfortable positions not only in possession, but also off the ball. We wanted to play football and build out from the back and, to be honest, we hardly had a sniff, because their pressing was very good. That’s why we changed tack in the second half. You could see that in the second half, as we looked to play the ball long more. Our aim was to keep the game as open for as long as possible against such a strong opponent. We managed to do that. At the end of the match, we almost came away with a point with the lack kick of the game, even though we certainly didn’t deserve to. We can deal with this defeat against one of the best teams in the Bundesliga. Now, it’s all about recovering, so we can play well on Saturday and come away with a good result.

Kasper Hjulmand: It was a tough game. Kudos to HSV’s work rate – they’ve got a good team with a lot of variation in terms of build-up. We played well, too. Our pressing was very energetic, and we won the ball high up the pitch a lot, even though we didn’t manage to score in the first half. We managed to make up for that in the second half. Then, we were almost undone on the counter a couple of times, and Janis did well between the sticks. On the whole, I’m very happy with how we played. The three points are very important for us.