Pep Guardiola said he was "very satisfied" with his Bayern Munich side despite their 2-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
Goals from Hakan Calhanoglu and Julian Brandt defeated the Bundesliga champions as Leverkusen moved up to third in the table.
Guardiola rotated his starting XI ahead of Wednesday's Champions League semifinal first leg with Barcelona, and he was encouraged by the performances of his younger players.
The Spaniard said on the club's official website: "It was a very hard-fought and evenly matched game. We needed to create more clear-cut chances.
"I'm very satisfied with my team and the performance we turned in. The young players also did very well indeed."
Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer added: "We didn't take our chances to score when we had them. You can always fall behind to a free kick when there's such a good taker on the pitch.
"No-one getting injured was closest to our hearts. That was the most important thing of all."