Bayer Leverkusen's Granit Xhaka on Thielmann Red: "He killed his team a little bit"

Initially not given as a red card, the referee Tobias Stieler went to the VAR screen to award Köln a red card for Jan Thielmann's reckless challenge on Granit Xhaka.

This changed the tide in the game and afterwards Bayer Leverkusen never really looked back and won 2-0 in the end.

After the derby, in an interview with Archie Rhind-Tutt of ESPN, Granit Xhaka said: "My leg is good, it's fine. I mean it's not my fault or something else. He killed his own team a little bit."

He added: "You don't need to come from the back like this. It was bad for them, good for us and we will take the three points today."

On the matter of the win, Xhaka said: "I think that after the red card, we were too sloppy. We knew a derby, it is something special. Even if you play with one man down, anything can happen."

Granit Xhaka finished by saying that Bayer Leverkusen "deserve the respect they are given" by clubs in the Bundesliga.