Guardiola content with Bayern, Wenger regretful
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
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Josep Guardiola was pleased how FC Bayern München "managed to totally control the game" against Arsenal FC, whose manager Arsène Wenger had "a lot of regrets".
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Josep Guardiola, Bayern coach
We enjoyed a 2-0 advantage from the first leg. Arsenal had prepared for this game and decided to play on the counterattack. We managed to minimise the number of mistakes we made. We played in a very intelligent way. I am very pleased with my team.
We played at a very high level and have now reached the quarter-finals. They were only better in the first eight minutes of the first leg, other than that we were the better side. Arsenal did not have any chances in the first half today and then it was over.
We wanted to control the game and not allow them to spring any counterattacks. They dropped very deep and defended with many players. Nevertheless, we managed to totally control the game and did not allow them much more than their goal.
There is no best XI at Bayern. Thomas Müller, Toni Kroos, Claudio Pizarro, Rafinha, they all deserve to play. I see them every day and they train very hard. It is very difficult for me to leave out those very good players, but we have to see how best to approach a given match.
If I had opted for another starting XI, you would have asked me why I had left out other players. It is just a tactical question. I analysed our game at Arsenal and then selected my team accordingly. We just have that much quality in our squad.
Arsène Wenger, Arsenal manager
Over the two games quality and spirit-wise we were absolutely at the level that is requested. I'm very proud of the spirit we showed tonight, we gave everything until the end. In the last 20 minutes we had situations where the final ball was not always there, but the situations were there to score a goal. Overall you can see the impact of the sending-off [of goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny in the first leg].
Bayern are a good team. We played with ten men [in the first game] and that made it difficult. We conceded a goal in the last minute of the first game while trying to equalise, but overall we went out to a good team, though we have shown as well that we had the quality to knock them out. Over the two games that aspect, playing with ten men, was massive.
There is no gap [to the best in Europe]. We played against a very good team who won the competition last year and we came here and drew 1-1. What can I say? We lost the first game [2-0] at home – that's where we got knocked out. We played against a good side, but we have a lot of regrets tonight because over the two games it was possible to knock them out.