Bayern Munich registered a routine 4-0 win at home against Olympiakos on Tuesday, with the victory confirming the Bavarian giants as Champions League Group F winners
A first-half blitzkrieg from Robert Lewandowski, Douglas Costa and co. saw Bayern Munich register a comfortable win over Olympiakos at the Allianz Arena, confirming their status as winners of the group with a game to spare.
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Manager Pep Guardiola declared that he was proud of the character shown by his players, while explaining that the decision to play with five attackers was partly due to having home comforts for the Group F clash.
“The players have great character” – Guardiola
The former FC Barcelona manager saw his team take apart the Greek side, and the attacking display in the first half would have pleased him in particular. The Spaniard also praised his players’ character, giving them ‘huge credit’ for having qualified with a game to spare.
Guardiola is quoted by ESPN FC as saying: “I’m very pleased about qualifying. Huge credit to all my players. We wanted to win the group and we’ve finished first.
“We’ve scored plenty of goals at home again so I’m satisfied. We weren’t perfect in possession, but we were very good without the ball. The players have great character. The Champions League is now done and dusted until February.”
The 44-year-old also explained his decision to start with five attacking players, saying: “My experience told me that here in Munich we needed to play with many attackers to score a lot of goals. That is a risk, but we normally create several chances.
“As long as we are able to control the game, we can play with five attacking players like we did tonight.”
Bayern looking like real contenders for the Champions League
In each of his two seasons in charge at Bayern Munich, Pep Guardiola has delivered on the domestic front, but has come up short in the UEFA Champions League at the semi-final stage. Their exits have been all the more remarkable because of the huge margin between themselves and their semi-final opponents — Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
This season, however, with the additions of Douglas Costa and Arturo Vidal, Bayern look even stronger and much more direct in attack. The Germans have topped their group as was widely expected, but must now go all the way to really prove what they’re made of.