Arturo Vidal fired in off the right post from 25 metres (yards) in the 20th minute, and Rode set up Kingsley Coman in the 62nd for the French forward’s first goal for Bayern on his first league start.
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The victory lifted Cologne up to fourth while Gladbach, who lost their opening Champions League group stage match 3-0 at Seville on Tuesday, remain rooted to the foot of the table.
“We conceded very few corners and free-kicks, and we battled well”.
Bayern host last season’s league runners up and German Cup winners VfL Wolfsburg on Tuesday in the Bundesliga, but Guardiola said that was the last thing on his mind, despite resting top-scorer Thomas Mueller until the second half. Alas, the Bavarians are so good on the ball that they’re nearly certainly going to find a way through anyway, and it’s hard to see anything other than a win for the visitors.
Guardiola was particularly delighted with the return of Javi Martinez.
Dutch striker Bas Dost came off the bench to bag a second-half brace to secure the three points for Wolfsburg.
The former Bayern player and coach then hit out at the Chile worldwide , who arrived in the summer from Juventus, following his display during the 3-0 Champions League victory over Olympiakos on Wednesday.
“The statistics don’t interest me”, said Guardiola, preferring to talk about the uncertainty surrounding Vidal, Robert Lewandowski and Xabi Alonso after the trio picked up knocks in Greece midweek.
“I’m also very pleased with Kimmich and Rode”. Julian Draxler also impressed for the Wolves, who appear to have put the losses of Kevin De Bruyne and Ivan Perisic behind them. “Both deserve more playing time”.
“Darmstadt play a simple game, but they play it very well”.
“You can make bad passes and lose out in challenges but you have to give it your all”, he added.
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As Darmstadt head coach Dirk Schuster sat down at the prematch press conference on Friday, he made sure he pointed this out to the present media.
