Cannot blame my players: Pep Guardiola

Guardiola during the match against Barcelona

Barcelona, May 7 (IANS)

Despite losing the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona 0-3, Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola says that he "cannot blame" his players who, in his opinion, have faced "very difficult situations" in the last three months. The Catalan lamented that his team were not incisive in attack at certain times of the game, although his players remained loyal to their style at Camp Nou on Wednesday night, when they tried to "defend and attack with focus on the ball", reports Efe.

"The team has been in very difficult situations and I am very grateful to my players. I shall always remember the last three months. The result hurts us against a team that is in very good form," he explained.

The match was decided in the last quarter of an hour when Lionel Messi scored two goals and assisted Neymar for the third.

"The best way to control these players is to not let them take part and we tried, but in the first two goals we were not well positioned and the third was avoidable," he said.