Atalanta post-match reaction - Aleksandar Pavlović: 'It doesn't get much better'

Bayern could hardly have put themselves in a better position for the second leg in eight days’ time. The Munich side won their maiden encounter with Atalanta 6-1 in the first leg of the round of 16 and have one foot in the last eight. “That was a very strong performance today,” summarised Joshua Kimmich. “It doesn’t get much better. We would’ve preferred to have kept the clean sheet, but it’s a great result and a great performance,” agreed Aleksandar Pavlović. And head coach Vincent Kompany could be more than pleased: “That was the performance we hoped for.” fcbayern.com has compiled the rest of the post-match reaction for you.

Reaction to the match at Atalanta

Max Eberl, board member for sport: “From the first minute on, you could see what we wanted to do, the idea, the plan, the willingness. We just crushed them, and then we were also very efficient in scoring goals. It was an impressive performance by the team. We saw how Atalanta played against Dortmund, but we didn’t give them any space to breathe. We combined, also forced the second ball at the right moments, went long, pushed up, won the ball, played deep and utilised the spaces that appeared. I think we really did a lot right today.”

Vincent Kompany: “That was the performance we hoped for. I’d even say we could’ve scored another goal or two. I think we were very dangerous in attack all game. It was a good mixture: playing the ball simply into feet at times, but also running in behind at times. That hurt them today. We have talent and quality in the team. It’s easy to talk about our plan and so on – Atalanta also have a plan – but we have the guys who like it in games like this. Fronting up one-v-one isn’t a problem for them. We also play with very high intensity in training, so it’s not a surprise when we’re able to find solutions against this type of defending in these matches. They did that superbly today.”

Joshua Kimmich: “We needed about five minutes to get going. After that we had one big chance after the other. That was a very strong performance today. The manner of it was impressive. We knew that we could really hurt them, and we also knew there’d be a top atmosphere here. You notice it now. I’ve never experienced winning 6-1 anywhere before and the fans still cheering their team like that. It’s quite remarkable. That’s a credit to the fans and the atmosphere. Nevertheless, it was just a successful night’s work for us. Obviously it’s only the first leg. We knew at half-time that 3-0 was already a decent scoreline, but we still wanted to increase it. We succeeded in that and then you get a sense on the pitch. You notice that the opponents don’t have much more resistance to offer. We then bring on players who are hungry, who want to score goals, who want to assist goals. That’s what we need at this stage of the season.”

Serge Gnabry: “Well, we’re certainly very happy to have made such a statement away from home. I think that apart from the one or two injuries that obviously happened, it was a perfect evening. I mean, we were very active throughout the game, covered a lot of ground and made it very difficult for our opponents to stay in it. We know we still have a home game to play and didn't want to leave anything to chance. We probably didn't think we'd score six goals in the end against an opponent like this. But as I said, it was a very good performance from us.”

Aleksandar Pavlović: “It doesn’t get much better. We would’ve preferred to have kept the clean sheet, but it’s a great result and a great performance. We knew what awaited us and took the game to them. Really, we did everything brilliantly in attack and defence tonight. I think that’s why the result was so convincing.”

Reaction from the Atalanta camp

Raffaele Palladino (coach): “We’re annoyed, this isn’t what we wanted. We played against perhaps the best team in the world. Congratulations to them and their coach, they impressed me. We have to accept the result. We’re sorry to the fans.”

The match report: