Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes believes the team were lacking quality in a game with few chances as they fell to a 1-0 defeat to Marseille in the Europa League.

Leverkusen suffered their first defeat in Europe this term, with Amine Gouiri's stunning 77th-minute strike securing all three points for Marseille.

It was a game with few clear-cut chances, though Leverkusen almost snatched a point through Patrik Schick late on, only for his header to be easily held by Jeffrey de Lange.

Leverkusen had won each of their first three Europa League games, meaning this defeat has not given their hopes of automatic qualification for the last 16 too big a dent at this stage.

However, the Werkself have now lost three of their last four matches and have suffered back-to-back defeats at home in all competitions, after a perfect start to the campaign at BayArena.

And Rolfes conceded that they struggled to hit their best level, though he remained positive about their position in the table.

"It was a game with few chances, and we weren't paying attention in one situation," he told RTL.

Our first defeat in the Europa League. #B04OM https://t.co/Es9zz6FF5c

— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) November 5, 2026

"We should have been better in terms of passing quality.

"We didn't play that well. Nevertheless, we have nine out of a possible twelve points in the Europa League."

Leverkusen accumulated just 0.9 expected goals (xG) from their 10 shots, with three of those on target, while Marseille had just eight attempts with two on Mark Flekken's goal.

This defeat ended a 10-game unbeaten streak at home in the Europa League (W7 D3), and they had scored 2.6 goals per game on average across that streak.