Arjen Robben said he was "disappointed and angry" after being taken off in Bayern Munich's 2-1 victory against his former club PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday.
Robert Lewandowski equalised from the spot just after the half-hour mark, following Santiago Arias's opener on 14 minutes and with the game in the balance at 1-1 Bayern boss Carlo Ancelotti decided to make a double change.
Robben and Joshua Kimmich made way for fresh legs in the shape of Douglas Costa and Kingsley Coman as the Bavarians went in search of a winning goal.
The substitution had the desired effect, as Robben's direct replacement Costa combining with David Alaba to lay on Lewandowski's winner with 16 minutes remaining, as the German champions qualified for the next stage of the competition.
Robben went to say his farewell to the adoring PSV faithful and threw his shirt into the home crowd after the final whistle.
Quizzed about Ancelotti's decision to replace him with the game still on a knife edge, Robben told Sky Deutschland: "It was a shame. In a game like this, you want to play 90 minutes. I was a little disappointed and a little angry too.
"He perhaps thinks differently. He's probably thinking of my fitness, but I wasn't injured."
Robben also believes Bayern must improve if they are to make an impact on the latter stages of the competition.
"We played without conviction in the first half and were too slow, so we could not get into the right situations,'' Robben said. "We have to play much better. It was not a good game from us. We have to learn from it, because we still make the same mistakes.
"We are qualified, but if we play like that in the next round we will have problems.''
Robben said he wouldn't go out of his way to speak with the manager about being taken off, while Ancelotti defended the substitution at his news conference following the game:
"It was only a physical reason," the Italian said. "I put on two wingers to open up the space and try to put more crosses in the box.
"Robben played a good game, but he's only just back from an injury and also played the last game -- so to avoid risk I preferred to make the change.
"He played well, but I wanted to put on fresh players at the end to use the space up front more."
Ancelotti felt his side were good value after coming from behind to win for only the third time in 12 Champions League games.
"We didn't play fantastically but we played well," Ancelotti said. "Of course it was difficult to come back after conceding the first goal, but minute by minute we got better. Second half we were much better, we pushed at the end and I think we deserved to win."
Ancelotti believed his side still retain high hopes of finishing top of the group, despite leaders Atletico Madrid's last-minute victory against minnows Rostov.
"Atletico won, but it doesn't change a lot," he said. "First place is still in our hands, we have to win our next two games and that's what we will try and do."
Munich head to Rostov for their next Group D fixture before hosting Atletico in what could well prove to be a shoot-out for top spot.
Ancelotti added: "We are qualified for the second round, which is important. Now we have two games left to establish victory in the group.''
PSV have only managed to secure one point from their four Group D matches, and will hope to beat Rostov to the Europa League berth.
Head coach Phillip Cocu said: "We created opportunities against a class team and I think we have given the maximum. In the second half we did everything we could to get the points.
"Sometimes, though, you have to also recognise that you are up against a fantastic team which plays just slightly better.
"Now we will go and fight for the third place. We will do everything we can.''