The five-time European champions were sensational in brushing aside Roma but their Spanish coach insists they can play even better
Pep Guardiola deflected the glory for Bayern Munich’s 7-1 thrashing of Roma on to his players – but insisted they could still do even better.
Bayern were rampant at the Stadio Olimpico on Tuesday, racing into a 5-0 half-time lead before cruising through the second period to move top of Champions League Group E.
It was suggested afterwards that Guardiola had got his tactics spot on but the former Barcelona boss preferred to direct the plaudits elsewhere.
He told Sky: “There are no good tactics without good players. This club has great presidents, great people and great players. It is about getting the best out of them.
“There are always little things you can improve, however. This was no normal situation, but you always have to keep going.
“It was a great first half, the last 10 minutes were fantastic. The second half was quieter. Roma are usually a great team, but we were very aggressive.
“We had good possession, found the spaces and used them. The guys up front – Robert [Lewandowski], Thomas [Muller] and Arjen [Robben] – did a great job.“
Robben started the rout before Mario Gotze – who scored twice in Bayern’s 6-0 demolition of Werder Bremen on Saturday – doubled the advantage.
Lewandowski’s header made it 3-0 after 25 minutes before Robben’s second and a contentious Muller penalty added further gloss.
Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer had kept clean sheets in his last eight matches and appeared destined to extend that run with superb saves in the second half from Alessandro Florenzi and Gervinho before the latter scored a consolation in the 66th minute.
It proved brief respite for Roma, though, as substitutes Franck Ribery and Xherdan Shaqiri capped a wonderful evening for the Bundesliga champions, who can now reach the knockout stages by beating Roma in the return match at the Allianz Arena on November 5.
Robben said: “We expected a difficult match. Roma are having a great season and are a great team that can play nice football. So this is a big compliment to our team and to our coaches. They prepared us very well for this match and the tactics deserve compliments.
“This is not the evening to talk about my performance, but to talk about the team. It was superb, especially going 5-0 up after half an hour.
“You have to enjoy evenings like this. There will be much applause, because we played so well but let’s keep our feet on the ground. It is still early in this season. This may sound bad after you won 7-1, but there are always little things you can improve. It is only October and the trophies are won in May.“