[ad_1]
Pep Guardiola lost his customary cool after his Bayern Munich side allowed a two-goal lead to slip in Turin, and snapped back at questions about his team’s character and fitness.
Bayern were simply brilliant for an hour in the Champions League last-16 tie at Juventus and two goals up thanks to Thomas Muller and Arjen Robben.
A defensive mistake allowed Paulo Dybala to pull one goal back, however, and Juve grew in confidence until Stefano Sturaro equalised 14 minutes from the end of a thrilling first-leg.
‘The result is what it is,’ said Guardiola. ‘I know that in Italy you are about physical condition. I don’t give a f*** for the physical condition. It’s the mental question that I care about.’
‘I didn’t expect to come here and expect Juve not to shoot on target, or that we would play 90 fantastic minutes.’
‘They have players like (Mario) Mandzukic, (Paul) Pogba and (Leonardo) Bonucci, one of my all-time favourite players. And we showed character.’
With two valuable away goals and the tie level, Bayern remain favourites to reach the last eight, but they leave Turin in the knowledge their position could have been far stronger.
‘We could have won the game,’ said Guardiola. ‘We have a team with many youngsters. We will learn from this. Don’t forget it was Juventus.’
‘We played a great team, the finalists in the Champions League last year. We did not play a team from the provinces. They have won four titles in Italy. Last year, they went further than us.’
[ad_2]