Pep Guardiola says he’s still proud of Bayern Munich despite cup defeat

Pep Guardiola said he has never been more proud of his team despite their DFB-Pokal semifinal defeat on Tuesday.

Bayern wrapped up the Bundesliga title last week, but their dreams of a treble this season ended after the missed all four penalties in a shootout against Borrussia Dortmund at the Allianz Arena.

Despite the defeat, Guardiola said he was content that his players gave their all.

“I’m proud of my team as never before,” he said. You can’t criticise your team when they’ve played so well. I’m very proud of my players. We did everything we could and I’m happy with that.

Guardiola noted that the game changed when Henrik Mkhitaryan came on for Shinji Kagawa in the 70th minute.

The Armenian set up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s goal in the 75th minute and forced Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer to save five minutes later.

“We played very well and only had problems for 15 minutes after Mkhitaryan came on,” Guardiola said. “It’s the best we’ve played against BVB in my time here in Germany.

“We looked a bit tired in the shootout. Congratulations to BVB and best of luck to them for the final.”

Xabi Alonso and Bayern slipped up in the penalty shootout on Tuesday and crashed out of the DFB-Pokal.

In the shootout, Philipp Lahm and Xabi Alonso slipped on two consecutive Bayern penalties in the run up to their spot kicks, all but sealing their defeat.

“Obviously you’re going to slip sometimes but it’s agonising when something like that happens in a semifinal,” Lahm said.

“There are certainly better moments to have your standing leg give way. We failed to wrap it up in normal and extra time.

“The luckier team wins in a shootout. It’s a shame we’re not through to the final because we know how wonderful it is. Congratulations to Borussia Dortmund.”