Bayern 'twice as fast and two leagues better than us' - Hertha coach Pal Dardai

29 November 2015 05:46

Hertha Berlin coach Pal Dardai said his side had "nothing to be ashamed of" after losing 2-0 to a Bayern Munich side he believes do not belong in the Bundesliga.

Bayern opened up an 11-point lead at the top of the standings on Saturday evening with an uncomplicated victory at the Allianz Arena.

Once again, the German champions underlined the gulf between themselves and their domestic rivals, even if they spent much of the second half simply going through the motions and not doing as much damage as perhaps they could have done.

Dardai set up his side to defend and frustrate Bayern, and, apart from one late opportunity wasted by Salomon Kalou, any hopes he harboured of snatching anything were little more than just that.

He was nevertheless not making any excuses for the loss.

"We have nothing to be ashamed of," the Hungarian said. "Our attitude and our efforts were exemplary, but Bayern are simply twice as fast and two leagues better than we are.

"We can live with a 2-0 defeat here. We've got the best we possibly could, only perhaps we could have defended a bit better on both of their goals and I'm just a bit irritated by that."

Pep Guardiola, the architect of one of the most dominant Bayern sides in history, paid his own side a compliment for coping with a string of injuries which made his now habitual rotation unavoidable.

"We only had (Kingsley) Coman available to go one on one," the Catalan said.

"We did a really good job in the first half and then in the second half we just wanted to keep a lot of control and not let them have any counter-attacks.

"We've done a really good job so far."

Indeed, with just three games to go until the midway stage of the Bundesliga season, things could hardly be looking any rosier for Bayern.

They lead second-placed Borussia Dortmund by 11 points, albeit having played one game more, and they are already through to the last 16 of the Champions League as winners of their group.

In the DFB-Pokal, Bayern have already knocked out the holders Wolfsburg and they can expect to see off the challenge of Darmstadt on December 15 to reach the quarter-finals, even if Guardiola insists it is not as easy as his side are making things look.

"I know how hard it is to be ready for a game every three days," he said.

He has to have his team ready again for games against Borussia Monchengladbach, Dinamo Zagreb, Ingolstadt, Hannover and Darmstadt before the winter break, when his own future will no doubt be deliberated and may well be decided.

Source: PA