Kevin De Bruyne was in fine fettle once again as Wolfsburg won the 2015 Supercup against Bayern - © © gettyimages / Dennis Grombkowski
Kevin De Bruyne was in fine fettle once again as Wolfsburg won the 2015 Supercup against Bayern - © © gettyimages / Dennis Grombkowski

De Bruyne: 'If we play like that, we'll be where we want to be'

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Wolfsburg - The first title of the 2015/16 season went to VfL Wolfsburg, although with just a minute of the 2015 Supercup to go, it did not look like the hosts would be celebrating half an hour later.

VfL Wolfsburg

A dramatic equaliser and the lottery of a penalty shootout saw the curtain-raiser to the 2015/16 Bundesliga season "turn in just a minute," according to Arjen Robben, who was not the only disappointed FC Bayern player.

bundesliga.com has the best of the post-match reaction from the Volkswagen Arena...

Kevin De Bruyne: Setting up the goal, I just put in an extra sprint, but then instinct took over and I’m pleased it all worked out. The chance I missed, I don’t think I had my body positioned correctly. I felt a tug on my shirt and then I leant back too far and didn’t have the necessary control on the shot that I wanted to have. I think FC Bayern had respect for us even before today. We still need a bit more time to be right where we want to be, but that’s normal in the midst of pre-season preparations. I think 1-1 was a fair result after 90 minutes. I think both teams had good moments and could both have scored more than once. We have to focus on doing what we’ve done for the last two years. It will be difficult, but if we play like we did today then we should be where we want to be. [Being honoured as Germany’s footballer of the Year] was a great recognition. It shows that a lot of other people thought I had a great season, but at the end of the day that was last season and I have to look to build on that in the coming campaign.

FC Bayern München

Nicklas Bendtner: Of course I’m happy with the goal and the penalty, but I thought personally that today was about the team performance. I thought that every player on the pitch believed in what we could achieve for 90 minutes and at the end of the day I think that’s what got us the win. It’s good that we’ve proven at such an early stage of the season that we can compete with the likes of FC Bayern München.

Koen Casteels: We played really well today. It was a very tight game. Both teams had three or four really good chances. We should perhaps have scored more goals today. I had a penalty prep sheet, but ultimately it comes down to your gut feeling in that moment. You can say a certain player prefers to shoot this way or that, but most of the time you have to trust your instincts. It’s been a long time since I’ve been involved in a shootout. Back in Hoffenheim three or four years ago, all of the goalkeepers took part in kickboxing training for a whole season. It was aimed at training our aggression levels, but also working on the speed of our reactions. I’m not about to use any kickboxing techniques in the box though!

Ricardo Rodriguez: We played really well. At the beginning we weren’t performing as well as we could, but then we got ourselves into the game. It was an evenly matched encounter and, yes, you can say we were lucky with the penalties, but all of our spot-kicks were convincing strikes and it was a good day for us. I’m delighted for Nicklas [Bendtner] that he got on the score sheet and I hope he can score many more goals for us. It’s super for him - he deserved it. He hadn’t had the easiest time for him as he had to train individually for most of our training camp. The last couple of weeks, though, he’s put in a real shift and deserved to be rewarded with his goals today. We’re on the right path, but FC Bayern are a really good team. We’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing. We’re not going to give them any peace. Today we’ve collected one more trophy. It’s a nice title to win and we want more. The cup games are never easy so we have to remain fully focused. If we do that then we’ll be fine. After that it’s back to league duties, but it was the perfect start.

Jerome Boateng: "It's just not on that we concede such a stupid goal right before the end of the match. We can be happy overall with our performance today, but we should have finished this game off much sooner. It's unlucky and frustrating."

Arjen Robben: "Of course I'm disappointed and angry, but this can be the beauty of football, can't it – when the whole match turns in just a minute. Wolfsburg scored in the 89th minute and then they win the penalties. I think we would have deserved to win, but that doesn't count for anything in football."

Philipp Lahm: "After taking the lead, we played some really, really good football. We just didn't take our chances to make it 2-0, and then we conceded an equaliser just before the end. Going into penalties with the emotions still lingering from that late blow wasn't easy."

Manuel Neuer: "It's very annoying because we were leading up to the 89th minute. We had more of the possession and we were the better team. We'll just have to ensure we win the Bundesliga now to get another shot at [the Supercup] next year."