Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso said that defeats can help a team's development, but still admitted that the shock German Cup elimination in a 2-1 defeat to third-division Arminia Bielefeld "really hurts."
"Defeats are an important part of development. The team and the club are fundamentally on the right path said today perhaps isn't a low point. Nevertheless, it really hurts," he said after Tuesday's semi-final match.
Bielefeld stunned title holders Leverkusen to reach their maiden Cup final and become only the fourth third-tier club to make it to the big game in Berlin. They will face the winner of Wednesday's clash between VfB Stuttgart and RB Leipzig.
"Congratulations to Bielefeld for the deserved win and the place in the final in Berlin. Of course, we are disappointed. We had great hopes today but we didn't play well," Alonso said.
"Almost nothing worked. We lacked quality and energy as a group. The consequence is a poor result and a poor game," he added.
Midfielder Robert Andrich was also self-critical in his post-game assessment.
"We know that we've done a lot wrong. We didn't show our strengths. Bielefeld did it better than us at times. We didn't penetrate up front and we made mistakes at the back so you can't be surprised if that's not enough in the end," he said.
Last season, Alonso led Leverkusen to the Cup title and also to their maiden Bundesliga trophy. He and his team will now fully focus on the league title defence.
In the standings, they are six points behind leaders Bayern Munich with seven games left.
"There are now seven games left in the league so we definitely have to take a different approach. Anger and disappointment are emotions you can and must turn into good energy," captain Lukas Hradecky said.
