A philosophical Thomas Müller believes defeat to Arsenal may not be "such a bad thing". Click the picture above to view images of Wednesday's encounter
A philosophical Thomas Müller believes defeat to Arsenal may not be "such a bad thing". Click the picture above to view images of Wednesday's encounter

Müller: Defeat "not such a bad thing"

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Munich - An uncharacteristically sloppy FC Bayern Munich side may have lost the second leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie 2-0 at home to Arsenal FC on Wednesday evening, but there was nothing unusual about the Bavarians' critical response to the loss, despite progressing to the quarter-finals.

Arsenal's goals in the 3rd and 85th minutes bookended a game in which the hosts repeatedly squandered chances in the final third, and consequently failed to score for the first time all season.

Speaking after the match, a frustrated Thomas Müller reflected on what could yet prove to be a pivotal match in Bayern's season.

Question: Thomas Müller, congratulations on reaching the last eight, although it's difficult to congratulate after a game like that…

Thomas Müller: We're through and therefore the overall result is positive even if the score in this game isn't what we imagined it would be. Losing such an important match 2-0 raises a lot of questions given the positive atmosphere we have at the moment. That's why maybe it's not such a bad thing to experience a negative result and still be in the next round. It gives everyone the chance to look at themselves and the team as a whole again. We may have won all of our games recently, but the authority we've played with has been missing in the last two Bundesliga matches.

Question: How can you explain that? Is the team maybe a bit overconfident?

Müller: Well the first thing we need to do is analyse the game and then we'll look at improving things as quickly as possible.

Question: Was it down to the fact that important players such as Franck Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger were missing?

Müller: No because they were involved in the last two Bundesliga games as well. We've now conceded four goals in two matches - before, that would normally have taken about six weeks to happen. We definitely need to think about that. Today we had good periods of play, where we should have scored. Overall we weren't all that bad, but you've done something wrong if you concede a goal in the 85th minute to make it 2-0 and keep you on edge for the last five minutes.

Question: How nail-biting were the closing stages for you? Another Arsenal goal would have sent them through.

Müller: I actually enjoy situations like that out on the pitch. It means I can use particular qualities: fighting for every millimetre and if necessary playing for time by the corner flag. I'm good at doing that and it's something I learned from Herrmann Gerland in the reserves. We never used to win big, it was normally very close.

Question: Who would you like to play in the quarter-finals? Borussia Dortmund are in the draw too…

Müller: First things first, we're away to Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday. That's all the matters right now.

Stefan Missy reporting from the Allianz Arena