The Bundesliga champions stretched their lead at the top of the table to 10 points with a victory in the German capital but the Catalan admitted that they had faded badly
Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola attributed the lacklustre nature of Saturday’s 1-0 win at Hertha Berlin to playing over an hour with 10 min in the midweek defeat at Manchester City.
The Bavarians had centre-half Mehdi Benatia dismissed midway through the first half of Wednesday’s loss at the Etihad Stadium, with the German champions ultimately slipping to a 3-2 defeat following the concession of two late goals to Sergio Aguero.
Bayern bounced back in the Bundesliga with a hard-fought win in Berlin, which came courtesy of Arjen Robben’s first-half strike.
However, Guardiola admitted that his players had tired the longer the game went on.
”We played well in the first half, but in the second half we lacked our usual style; our way of playing,” the Catalan is quoted as saying by his club’s official website.
“It’s always dangerous when you’re only 1-0 up, and Hertha are quick on the break.
“After 70 minutes with only 10 men in Manchester my players may have been a little tired.
“I’m happy with the first half, but we can do better than in the second.”
Arjen Robben also conceded that Bayern had been nowhere near their brilliant best against Hertha but the winger was nonetheless pleased to have racked up another victory that stretched their lead at the top of the table to 10 points.
”Sometimes you just have to accept a 1-0 win,” the Dutchman stated. “We can’t always play top football.
“The second half wasn’t good. Three points – and we move on.”
Second-placed Wolfsburg can reduce Bayern’s lead to seven points when they host Borussia Monchengladbach on Sunday.