Marcel Schmelzer responded to questions from journalists following the 4-3 penalty shoot-out defeat and freely admitted: "It was difficult to assert our game because Bayern did a good job of that too."

How energy-sapping was the match?
Marcel Schmelzer: "We've just played our 56th competitive match of the season. That's demanding. Both teams had little left to give once it went to extra time. I don't think it looked like that for Bayern as they had most of the ball. It was a difficult battle, that's how it has to be in a final, you need to give it everything that you have. And that's what we did until the end. Then when it gets to penalties there's a fine line between fortune and misfortune."

Why was it so difficult to find takers for the first five penalties?
Schmelzer: "A lot of players were struggling physically before shooting. Some even injured themselves while shooting. At the end it was not football any more. It was similar for Bayern. It is difficult when exhaustion and cramp mean that you no longer feel like you are in the position to even take a run-up. Then it's difficult to say, yeah I'll shoot."

Was it a problem during the match that BVB had made a tactical switch and had rather little possession this time out?
Schmelzer: "No, the fact that we got on the ball less was down to the way that Bayern played. We had a lot of players who were playing their first final. You could see that at the start. Perhaps we didn't play with the security we demonstrated in the league. After that we fought our way into the match. We could have also executed our counter attacks better in the first half. But we'll learn from that now. It was difficult for us to assert our game because Bayern did a good job of that too." (fu)