Guardiola Regards UCL Defeat as Lesson to Bayern Munich Players

Thomas Muller and Mario Gotze put the hosts in front, before David Silva, James Milner and Aleksandar Kolarov completed a memorable comeback for the Premier League side.

“I think it is something we have to know – that we can lose,” Guardiola told reporters after the match. “Opponents have good players and coaches too. It is always difficult.

“But we started very well and for the first 30 minutes we were very good. Later we had to use the ball better and use our counterattacks. Manchester City are a good team and you have to have more than just possession.

“Congratulations to Manchester City on this great victory. Sometimes you need to lose a game. In the Bundesliga we have won everything, in Manchester we won 3-1, but now we lost and have to cope with that. But we’re already looking ahead to next week in Marrakech [for the Club World Cup].”

Bayern finished on top of the group despite the loss, but Guardiola insists his team should be congratulated for doing well in the group stages.

“In the first half we did not make many mistakes, but during the first 10 minutes of the second half we did not play very well. In general we are satisfied,” he said. “We met a great team in the group phase; Manchester City played quite well tonight.

“I congratulate the players on their success and I hope we understand now how difficult it is to play in Europe. We did not always have the right player in the right place on the pitch. We have to work on this – that is the lesson we learned today.”