Saul Niguez’s splendid individual goal gave Atletico a 1-0 first-leg win and leaves Guardiola’s side needing a huge performance next week in Munich to prevent a third consecutive Champions League semi-final exit at the hands of a Spanish team.
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But he felt his team were well briefed to deal with the tenacious threat of Atletico, which overwhelmed them for large parts of the first half.
Guardiola also believes his side are capable of overturning Atletico’s advantage at the Allianz Arena, adding: “We have already proven in other situations that we are capable”.
But with Bayern boasting a remarkable home record of only one defeat in 24 matches, the tie is far from over.
Bayern last won the competition in 2013 but have crashed out against Spanish opposition – first Real Madrid then Barcelona – at the semi-final stage in the last two seasons. In the second half, we saw that Bayern are a great team.
“We want the fans to keep enjoying this, because this is for them”.
Bayern almost equalised moments later when Arturo Vidal’s looping header beat Atletico keeper Jan Oblak, but Jose Gimenez rose to head the ball off the line.
“We had talked before the game about how Atletico tend to start well”, said Guardiola, who will leave Bayern to join Manchester City at the start of next season.
“In the second half we were better than the first, in which we did not go well”. I can’t see him sticking with the two Brazilian lads…
Guardiola said he made the decision to get another midfielder in the side and ensure he had a left-footed player playing on the left and a right-footed player on the right.
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Atletico’s Fernando Torres, left, shoots against the bar while Bayern’s goalkeeper Manuel Neuer watches during the Champions League 1st leg semifinal soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, April 27, 2016. At Santiago Bernabeu we created fewer chances. [An opponent] with so many variations, who play as well as they do, could generate a lot of difficulties.
