Heynckes bullish despite City defeat
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
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Jupp Heynckes predicted it will be "difficult for any team to beat" his FC Bayern München side in the last 16 despite the loss to Manchester City FC, Roberto Mancini lamenting earlier errors.
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Roberto Mancini, Manchester City manager
We got ten points and that is usually enough to get through the group stage. We made some mistakes, and the loss in Naples was probably where we went wrong.
After the first half I believed we would go through, but this is the Champions League and every team plays at 100%. Our lives continue, we go to the Europa League. It is a very important trophy which I have not won before so we will try to do that. I am disappointed as we wanted to be in the Champions League but we will try again next year.
We have a good team, a fantastic team, and we played very well. We are very sorry to the suppporters and I am very sorry for the players as they deserve to play in this competition. We will focus on the league now and come back to this tournament next season and strengthen our squad. I say again though, that we got ten points and that should be enough to get you through.
Jupp Heynckes, Bayern coach
It is a big success to have won the group on the penultimate matchday. We had big selection problems today. Arjen Robben and Toni Kroos had to stay at home [with flu] while Mario Gomez and Thomas Müller are two other players to have been affected and Daniel Van Buyten has been suffering from gastroenteritis. The team showed fighting spirit, and that is all that is possible at the moment. Against a City team which was at full strength and still had hopes to qualify, it became difficult.
Players have to get to know European football; City do not have too much experience in that regard and that was noticeable in the group stage. They have a very good team but had we been all full strength today and had to win, then we would have won here. I see defects in City. They attack well and keep the ball well, but I see issues in their defence.
We do not have preferred opponents in the draw. I have given up on wishing for certain opponents. Everything is possible in football. You never know what will happen. For us it was important to win the group and have the first match away from home. If we are at full strength and Bastian Schweinsteiger is back, it will be difficult for any team to beat us.
