Roger Schmidt admitted Leverkusen were lucky to beat Ingolstadt on Matchday 17. - © © gettyimages / Lennart Preiss
Roger Schmidt admitted Leverkusen were lucky to beat Ingolstadt on Matchday 17. - © © gettyimages / Lennart Preiss

Schmidt delights in 'fortunate win' for Bayer

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Bayer 04 Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt was understandably delighted to end 2015 on a positive note after Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez’s 19th goal of the season gave them a 1-0 victory at the Audi Sportpark.

FC Ingolstadt 04 0-1 Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Goals: Chicharito (73')

Chicharito: ‘It was difficult. Ingolstadt’s attitude was unbelievably good, but we gave it 110 per cent and we’re obviously delighted with the win."

Bernd Leno: "Workmanlike win to finish off the Hinrunde. Now for a few days holiday. Thanks for your support!"

Roger Schmidt (Leverkusen head coach): "We knew it would be a tough game and they'd make us give it everything we had. We had to stand up to the 50-50 challenges and their counter-attacks, and the first half was vey competitive. In the second half we had a bit more structure to our play and managed to get the goal. We felt confident of a win and we defended well, so we’re all happy with this fortunate win."

Marvin Matip (Ingolstadt defender and captain): "Right after the game, the overriding emotion is frustration because we were unlucky to lose. Still,  I think we can’t be pleased with our performance, not just today but over the course of the season so far."

Danny da Costa (Ingolstadt defender): "We knew how much quality they had and that they can hit you hard on the break, but in the key moment in the game, we couldn’t defend it well enough. At the end of the day it’s really disappointing that we’ve got nothing to show for our efforts."