Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 8y

Bayern Munich's Pep Guardiola: Arsenal's injury problems helped us

Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola believes Arsenal's injury problems made it easier for his side in their 5-1 Champions League win on Wednesday.

Bayern ran riot against the Gunners at the Allianz Arena and were widely praised for their display, with German media commenting that the Bavarians are currently playing in "a world of their own."

However, speaking at a news conference prior to Bayern's Bundesliga clash against Stuttgart on Saturday, Guardiola said the display against Arsenal was not quite a Champions League-winning performance.

"We played really, really well against Arsenal in the first 35 minutes," said Guardiola, who again refused to talk about his future. "That's not enough to win the Champions League."

"We should not forget that Arsenal fielded a side similar to that of ours last season," Guardiola added, referring to Bayern's struggles with injury towards the end of last term.

The Bavarians were without key players including Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben and David Alaba as they crashed out of the Champions League and DFB Pokal semifinals.

"Arsenal were without several injured players," Guardiola said, before running through Arsene Wenger's absentees.

Guardiola added: "We need to continue to work hard, we are still developing. We need to pass the ball, and play the vertical ball at exactly the right time. We have to continue to get better. We need more control. We have to avoid the counter-attacks."

Last Friday, Bayern dropped their first points of the season in the Bundesliga with a 0-0 draw against an Eintracht Frankfurt side who defended deep in their own half.

Guardiola, however, expects things to be different for the game against Stuttgart on Saturday.

"We will see a good match tomorrow," he said. "Both team attack and play attractive football. Stuttgart create many chances."

Stuttgart have created 91 chances, just five fewer than Bayern, but only scored 17 goals to the Bavarians' 33.

To help stop Stuttgart, Guardiola could make use of Holger Badstuber again, with the defender having returned to the squad from injury for the first time since April.

"I like Badstuber," Guardiola said. "He's got a great quality in his build-up play and he's a great personality."

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