Hyypia: Early concession spelt trouble for Bayer
Bayer Leverkusen coach Sami Hyypia denies it 'all went wrong' for his side in a 4-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic's brace, and goals from Blaise Matuidi and Yohan Cabaye, saw the Ligue 1 leaders all but secure their place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.
Emir Spahic was sent off for Leverkusen on the hour-mark at the BayArena, with Hyypia's side needing a miracle in the second leg.
Hyypia unsurprisingly wanted the focus to be on how good PSG's performance was rather than his own side's display.
"You can't say that it all went wrong. You also have to look at what kind of team we faced," the former Liverpool defender said.
"Paris are a top-class opponent and they were excellent. If you fall behind after three minutes it is always difficult to fight back."
Laurent Blanc's men only needed three minutes to go ahead as Matuidi clinically finished Marco Verratti's pass.
Ibrahimovic doubled the lead six minutes before half-time from the penalty spot, and the Swede made it 3-0 with a stunning left-footed effort from 20 yards soon after.
Substitute Cabaye's neat finish on 88 minutes completed the scoring and ended Leverkusen's chances.
Hyypia felt his side performed better after Spahic's red card and lamented conceding so early in the tie.
"It became very difficult and we never found our usual rhythm during the first half," he said.
"After their first goal it took us 15 to 20 minutes to get back into the game. In the second half we had a man sent off and I felt that we were better with 10 men than 11."
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