‘The draw could work to our advantage’

The Bayern camp was understandably subdued following Thursday’s 1-1 draw at home to Getafe in the UEFA Cup quarter-final first leg. Cosmin Contra’s 90th minute equaliser robbed the Bundesliga giants of a victory they could easily have wrapped up earlier in the match, and means next week’s trip to the Madrid suburbs will be a knife-edge affair. Bayern captain Oliver Kahn faced the press afterwards, but the keeper felt there were positives to be gleaned from the night’s events.

Oliver Kahn after the Getafe match:

Question: Oliver Kahn, how angry are you after conceding a last-minute equaliser?
Oliver Kahn: “I’m not angry at all, I even think it could work to our advantage, otherwise we might have been tempted to give it less than 100 percent in Getafe. Instead, we’re set for a fantastic European night, with all that involves. We’re always capable of scoring, so it definitely won’t be a 0-0 draw.“

Question: Getafe are anything but easy opponents, so it’ll be a tough match to win.
Kahn: “So we’ll draw 2-2, which would be enough as well.“

Question: Do you really believe that?
Kahn: “Of course I believe it. Getafe are a good team, we all saw that tonight. They’re hardly a pub team, they have the results to prove it with away wins against Barcelona, Real Madrid and Tottenham, and they played very well in Lisbon. They’re simply a strong team with nothing to lose, with some very good footballers. But as I say, we’re looking forward to a big European night, and there’s still everything to play for. We’ll get through, even if it needs penalties.“

Question: You had Getafe well under control for long periods, but they fought their way back into the match. Did you run out of steam, or did Getafe sense they could get a result?
Kahn: “We played well for 35 minutes and had the game under control. But the course of the match suddenly turned, and we let Getafe have too many chances. That’s always likely to happen against a team with nothing to lose and some very, very good players. But we’re Bayern Munich, and we’re not going to wet ourselves just because we have to go there and get a result.“