Alexander Sørloth had a fairly honest assessment of Atlético Madrid’s 2-0 defeat to Bayern Munich, acknowledging that his team struggled to maintain its intensity after the break against one of Europe’s strongest sides.

The Norwegian striker felt Atlético had done a reasonable job defensively during the first half, creating opportunities to hurt Bayern on the counterattack. However, the hosts ultimately lacked the quality in the final third to capitalize on those openings.

”Bayern are one of the best teams in the world. We defended well in the first half, had a few good counters and goalscoring opportunities. All that was lacking was the final ball. The first half was decent but we tired after the break. We lacked energy and Bayern struck. Obviously we would’ve liked to have got something, but we still have four matches left. Every time we go on the pitch, we want to win. We have to keep working hard, start picking up points and hope we can win our remaining matches,” Sørloth said (as captured by FCBayern.com).

That admission speaks to Bayern’s ability to wear opponents down. Atlético competed for a half, but Bayern’s quality, intensity, and attacking threat eventually proved too much.

For Atlético, the defeat leaves work to do with four Champions League matches remaining. For Bayern, it was another convincing European statement.