Schmidt praises ‘cool’ Leverkusen

Posted Monday, February 15, 2016 by foxsportsasia.com

Schmidt praises ‘cool’ Leverkusen
Leverkusen head coach Roger Schmidt was pleased with how his side kept their cool to record a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Darmstadt on Saturday.

The visitors found themselves trailing at the Merck-Stadion am Bollenfalltor after Sandro Wagner headed Die Lilien in front on 28 minutes.

But Leverkusen battled back in the second half and equalised through an own-goal from Aytac Sulu, who got the final touch on Hakan Calhanoglu's 63rd-minute free-kick, before Julian Brandt completed the comeback win 13 minutes from time.

Hertha Berlin's 2-0 defeat at VfB Stuttgart meant that Schmidt's team moved up to third in the Bundesliga standings and the 48-year-old was thrilled with the outcome.

"We're very happy to have won this difficult game. It was exactly how we expected it would be: a fight for every inch," he told the official Bundesliga website after the match.

"It obviously became harder for us when they went in front, but we kept our cool in the second half and did a good job to level from a set-piece and then take the lead on a counterattack.

"It wasn't easy then to defend our lead, but we had that bit of luck we needed."