Saturday, May 3, 2014

Pep Guardiola blames himself for Bayern Munich's dismal defeat against Real Madrid


Pep Guardiola takes full responsibility for Bayern Munich being dumped out of the Champions League, claiming his side didn't do enough in possession to warrant progressing. 
The Bavarians were taught a lesson in counter-attacking by a slick Real Madrid outfit who picked their hosts off at will and went through with surprising ease. 
Two goals apiece from Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo condemned Bayern to a humiliating defeat.  



 It was all their own doing - Ramos wasn't picked up properly for either header in a four-minute spell - but Guardiola was more incensed with his side's lack of incision on the ball. 
'The reason for the defeat is that we played too little with the ball,' he said. 
'In Manchester and also in Madrid, we have made it outstanding, not today. 
'If you do not have control of the game, you have no chance against this team. 
'We played badly, that's my responsibility. We are at the highest level in Europe and such errors are punished. 
'I'll try to lift the players.' 
Having already sealed the Bundesliga title, Bayern only have the German Cup to play for. The way in which they crumbled when hit on the break will have been alarming to those inside the Allianz Arena. 
Not least captain Philipp Lahm, who added: 'The disappointment is huge. We did not play well tactically, we played an open game way too early.



'While we controlled the first leg, we gave them an end-to-end game today, that's not our way of playing, they like it though.'

Arjen Robben was stifled by a well-organised Madrid back four, particularly Fabio Coentrao, but remained pragmatic in his assessment. 
'We received a 4-0 beating today. Accept it. Cry about it. Go home. Then move on,' he said. 
'We had lots of hope, the mood was good. We attacked from the first minute, then conceded two from set-pieces, not counter-attacks.
'We've been punished and have to accept it. A 4-0 defeat at home is tough but we have to lift our heads, we have a cup final soon.'


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