Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola came in for some heavy criticism from the German media after his team lost the first-leg of its two-game UEFA Champions League semifinal serieswith Real Madrid, 1-0. Though Bayern registered 72 percent of the possession, Carlo Ancelotti’s men generally had better chances, particularly in the first-half, whenKarim Benzema tapped home the only goal of the game.
“Pep, that’s how you’ll blow your Treble dream,” came the headline from Bild, which referred toGuardiola’s first-ever loss at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu as a coach as an “historic defeat.” Der Spiegel described the former Barcelona coach’s tactics as “slow,innocuous, predictable,” adding: “Real’s bogey team had turned into a toothless tiger.”
Meanwhile, FAZ wondered what led Guardiola to declare in his post-game statementthat he is now “more optimistic than before the match” of reaching the final in Lisbon. It wrote: “Having failed to score an away goal, Bayern now need to win by a two-goal margin to maketheir third consecutive Champions League final. But how this can be achieved is the biggest question Guardiola and his players need to answer.”
After the game, Bayern sporting directorMatthias Sammer defended his team. “We’ve lost 1-0. That’s a fact,” the former Bayern and Germany star said. “We were dominant and controlled the play, but not the result.I don’t think any Bayern team has ever been so dominant here at the Bernabeu. But we have to turn it round in the return, we need ruthless finishing, and we need the crowd behind us. We can doit.”