Millwall boss Gary Rowett heaped praise on his side’s positive response following a shaky start to the season after they convincingly beat Rotherham 3-0 at The Den.
The Lions produced the perfect response to weekend defeat to Leeds as Ryan Longman’s first-half strike put the hosts ahead before Zian Flemming and Tom Bradshaw each added second-half goals.
The win saw Millwall climb up the Sky Bet Championship table to 11th as Rotherham were left in 21st following a lacklustre away performance.
Rowett said: “We responded but we responded in a way that I just didn’t think we allowed Rotherham to create anything or really put us under pressure and that’s probably the bit that I liked the most about the performance.
“It’s never easy at the weekend when you play a game and you lose 3-0 in the game that I didn’t think we deserved to lose 3-0 in.
“But you’ve got to still come out and fight and then show a little bit of spirit and that’s what today was.
“We passed the ball, we were quite patient, we still look to go in behind and attack quickly.
“We kept it at the right times and I think that made it very difficult for Rotherham to build anything against us.
“Casper (De Norre) was excellent in that respect, he just kept receiving the ball, kept getting into intelligent positions and I thought he was outstanding tonight.
“For Zian and Brad [Tom Bradshaw], it’s nice for them to get on the scoresheet. Both of them were excellent for different reasons and in different ways.”
Matt Taylor rued defensive errors and admitted Rotherham have come second best all too often in the Championship so far, registering just four points from seven games.
Since a 1-0 win in 2014, Rotherham have failed to score a single goal in any of their subsequent trips to The Den and Millers boss Taylor rued his side’s inability to match Millwall’s strength.
Taylor said: “We weren’t where we needed to be to stand up to Millwall’s style. It was similar to the weekend really where we’re second best too often I’m afraid.
“We’ve got a problem with physicality; I have to start with my backline in relation to that.
“We’re looking for solutions, we didn’t quite have the glue to stick certain units together.
“I was actually quite pleased to get in at half-time at 1-0, despite a really good strike to go behind to.
“We tried to change a few things and in the second half, we started the brighter but that second goal is unfortunately where we are at the moment, it kind of came out of nothing, not an outstanding attack.
“We can give credit to the opposition, but we’re just too easy to play through and to score against.”
Leverkusen ready to become first team to play unbeaten Bundesliga season, says Alonso
Bayer Leverkusen are ready to become the first team in Bundesliga history to go an entire season unbeaten, coach Xabi Alonso said after Sunday's 5-0 demolition of Bochum.
Treble-chasing Leverkusen cruised past Bochum, who had Felix Passlack sent off in the 15th minute, to stretch their remarkable unbeaten run across all competitions this season to 50 consecutive matches.
On Thursday, Alonso's team surpassed Benfica's long-standing European unbeaten record set from 1963 to 1965 with a 2-2 draw against Roma that sent them through to the Europa League final.
Sunday's win over Bochum also meant they became only the third team in Bundesliga history to remain unbeaten in every away match of a season.
"After that red card it was a completely different game for us," Alonso told a press conference.
"I am very satisfied with the result. It was important for us. Now we have a super goal on Saturday to win the title without any defeat. That has never happened before."
Leverkusen, who face Atalanta in the Europa League showpiece match and take on Kaiserslautern in the DFB-Pokal final later in May, entertain Augsburg at home in Saturday's Bundesliga finale where they will also receive their first-ever league trophy.
"To receive the title in Leverkusen will be very special," said Alonso. "The players have been focused the entire season so for them it will be very special. I am proud of them."
Bayern Munich 2-0 Wolfsburg: Zvonarek scores on first start in Tuchel's final home game
Second-placed Bayern Munich beat Wolfsburg 2-0 with teenager Lovro Zvonarek scoring on his first start in their final Bundesliga home game of the season on Sunday as they eased towards the end of a trophy-less campaign.
Bayern have 72 points, two ahead of third-placed Stuttgart with one game remaining. Unbeaten champions Bayer Leverkusen, on 84, visit Bochum later on Sunday.
Four days after Bayern's Champions League semi-final exit to Real Madrid confirmed their first season without silverware in over a decade, the Bavarians put in a solid performance against the Wolves despite a string of changes to Thomas Tuchel's team.
They were missing striker Harry Kane, nursing a minor back problem, and were also without Serge Gnabry, who was injured in their defeat by Real, Leroy Sane and Jamal Musiala.
Zvonarek, the 19-year-old Croatian who had only made a handful of substitute appearances for the team, scored four minutes into his first start, drilling home for the lead.
Leon Goretzka doubled the advantage nine minutes later with the hosts quickly taking full control of the game.
Bryan Zaragoza also thought he had netted on his first league start for the Bavarians, but the 22-year-old Spaniard's effort was disallowed for offside.
The hosts took their foot off the gas with Tuchel's Bayern career coming to an end next week, a year earlier than his contract, after a disappointing domestic campaign that also included a German Cup exit to third-tier club Saarbruecken.
Data Debrief: Clean sheet for Neuer on landmark outing
Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer made his 500th Bundesliga appearance, 156 of those having come for Schalke and 344 for his current side.
The veteran stopper had two saves to make en route to becoming the fourth goalkeeper in Bundesliga history to reach that 500 mark, after Oliver Kahn (557), Eike Immel (534) and Uli Stein (512).
Paris Saint-Germain 1-3 Toulouse: Visitors spoil Ligue 1 champions party
Paris Saint-Germain were stunned in a 3-1 home defeat by Toulouse on Sunday, as the newly-crowned champions suffered only their second loss in Ligue 1 this season.
Luis Enrique's side struggled for form after their midweek Champions League semi-final loss to Borussia Dortmund, falling again at home to remain on 70 points from 32 games, six clear of second-placed Monaco.
Kylian Mbappe, who confirmed on Friday that he will leave PSG at the end of the season, opened the scoring after eight minutes with a fine finish into an open goal following a pinpoint pass from goalkeeper Arnau Tenas.
Toulouse equalised five minutes later through Thijs Dalling, who coolly slotted home from close range before Yann Gboho put the visitors ahead with a superb curling effort into the top right corner in the 68th minute.
Frank Magri's stoppage-time strike sealed the win for Toulouse, who are 10th in the standings with 43 points.
Data Debrief: PSG’s defensive problems
PSG have now gone 11 home games without a clean sheet in Ligue 1, equalling their longest such run in their history in the top flight (also 11 in October 1978-May 1979).
Having suffered an unexpected defeat here, PSG also missed the chance to match their second-longest unbeaten run in the league (27 between August 1993 and April 1994), behind the 36 across March 2015 and February 2016.
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