Pep Guardiola said he could have “no complaints” after his Bayern Munich side suffered their first Bundesliga defeat of the season.
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Guardiola, having opted to rest many of his first-choice stars ahead of the Champions League quarterfinal second leg against Manchester United, saw his team beaten 1-0 at Augsburg.
The result, which followed on from a 3-3 draw with Hoffenheim and 1-1 draw at United, ends Bayern’s hopes of becoming the first side to go an entire Bundesliga season unbeaten.
In comments reported on the club’s official website, Guardiola said: “We lost because the opponents were a little bit better than us. We saw how good Augsburg are in the DFB-Pokal.
“We fought hard and tried different approaches. That’s football, that’s sport. You can’t always win. A defeat was on the cards sooner or later. We accept that and we need to prepare as soon as possible for the game against Manchester United.”
Guardiola defended the decision to field the likes of Mitchell Weiser, Pierre Emile Hojbjerg and Ylli Sallahi in his starting XI, adding: “We didn’t lose because of the younger players. Hojbjerg and Weiser were the best players on the pitch.
“They’ve trained with us a lot. They know how we play and also know what I want. Hats off to the three of them. We’re in a final on Wednesday. It’s a matter of life and death.”
Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer focused on the bigger picture as Bayern, already champions of Germany, look to defend their European crown.
“We took Augsburg seriously, but the main thing for us was that nobody got injured today,” he said. “That’s the crucial point. It’s all about Wednesday and the match against Manchester United. Nothing else matters.”
Augsburg boss Markus Weinzierl was delighted with the way his team performed.
He said: “We fought brilliantly and tried to work as a team to neutralise Bayern’s strengths. Taking the lead was great for us. We were able to be more compact after that and rely on our ability to switch play.
“Bayern stepped it up in the second half. We had the little bit of luck you need. Everything went right for us. At the end of the day we’re very, very happy.”