'We definitely deserve to be in the final'

Fernando Carro, chairman of the board: "It's a great success and the chance of a title. So I'm very happy."

Rudi Völler, sporting managing director: "I'm a bit of an optimist and I haven't given up hope that we might be able to have a few spectators at the final. Perhaps there could be a little sign in that huge stadium. But that's down to the politicians. We approached the match in the way you have to play against a surprise team in the semi-finals. I didn't think much was happening after the first quarter of an hour. The coach did well to keep the level of excitement up. Now we're all looking forward to Berlin and we definitely deserve to be in the final. We are having a really good season. But if we'd have been knocked out here today then I wouldn't say the whole season was put into question but it would have been tough. Now we have to put it behind us and concentrate on Schalke."

Peter Bosz, head coach: "You play a final to win it. That's the next step. I'm satisfied with the game because we took it seriously. Perhaps we could have scored one or two more goals. I didn't have any doubts but respect instead. We did our job well from the start. If you score two goals in 30 minutes then the game is over. You don't get many chances in football to play in a final. You have to be serious about it when you're so close. And that's what we did."

Lukas Hradecky: "The third final in five years. I'm happy about it. I hope we play Eintracht in the final. I hope we can put on another shirt after the final. The lads were very professional in the build-up. They took the opposition seriously. We’re through now and anything can happen in the final regardless of who the opponents are."

Sven Bender: "It's a different atmosphere. Those are the problems in games like that. We prepared for that and were focused. We did a good job. It's the first final with Leverkusen. I'm proud of it. I hope we're not at the end of the road now."

Jonathan Tah: "We’re really happy to be in the cup final – that doesn't happen very often as a player. And it hasn't happened very often in the history of Bayer 04. So therefore I'm happy to be able to be part of it. It's something big and special for all of us."

Kerem Demirbay: "It was just about going through to the final. Every athlete dreams of playing in a final. It's a one-off match. It's a battle – don't misunderstand me – and it's all about giving your all. I'm raring to go and so are the team. We had to show due respect to the opposition. But to be honest, it was a semi-final and it doesn't matter whether it's a fourth division team or a first division team. It's just about winning. We did it and we're proud of it."