Pep Guardiola admitted there wasn't much to choose between FC Bayern and VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 20
Pep Guardiola admitted there wasn't much to choose between FC Bayern and VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 20

Guardiola: 'Robben and Alaba made the difference'

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Cologne - There were a number of eye-catching results on Matchday 20: Borussia Dortmund finally won again, SV Werder Bremen held on for a surprise victory over Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Augsburg drew for the first time this season.

VfB Stuttgart 0-2 FC Bayern München

All of which left the Bundesliga's 18 top flight coaches with plenty to ponder. Here's what some of them made of their teams' respective performances at the weekend...

Huub Stevens (Stuttgart): "Of course it's difficult, but Bayern's qualities shone through in the end. What can you do when Robben scores a goal like that? And Alaba too! I can't be too hard on my lads, they fought well and put in a good performance. I know we didn't manage to score, but we mustn't let our heads drop. We need to keep going. The important thing is [being safe] after Matchday 34."

Pep Guardiola (FC Bayern): "The quality of Arjen Robben and David Alaba was the difference today. It was difficult and we didn't play as well as we can. It was important to get a good result ahead of Hamburg [on Matchday 21] and Donetsk [in the UEFA Champions League last-16 first leg], but we have to improve to reach our top level. I have great confidence in the team."

SC Freiburg 0-3 Borussia Dortmund


Christian Streich (Freiburg): "We played terribly. This was a very bad day for us. We didn't create any chances and were second best in every department. We could have lost by a much higher margin in the end."

Jürgen Klopp (Dortmund): "We started the game very well and the early goal obviously helped us a lot, but after that we remained solid and scored lovely goals to make it 2-0 and 3-0. We were deserved winners in the end."

FC Schalke 04 1-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach


Roberto Di Matteo (Schalke): "We're very pleased about the victory over Gladbach as we always seem to struggle against Borussia. We were well-organised, didn't concede many chances and scored the decisive goal. The players gave everything and that's exactly what our fans want to see."

Lucien Favre (Gladbach): "We controlled the game and had a lot of possession, but sometimes that's not enough to win a football match. Schalke defended very well and it was difficult to find gaps to exploit. We were missing a bit of power in attack."

Hamburger SV 2-1 Hannover 96


Josef Zinnbauer (Hamburg): "We know we have a long injury list at the moment. I usually prefer an attacking approach, but at the moment we have to pick up points by other means. Hannover were better than us and we were lucky."

Tayfun Korkut (Hannover): "I can't fault my team. We were in total control of the game and conceded two deflected goals out of nothing. We want to keep playing like we did today."

SV Werder Bremen 2-1 Bayer 04 Leverkusen


Viktor Skripnik (Bremen): "Congratulations to my team, we put in a good performance. We've found the right balance between neat and tidy football and battling qualities, which is important. Unfortunately we can't quite keep that up for a full 90 minutes. The league table looks very good now and we're looking up rather than down."

Roger Schmidt (Leverkusen): "It was obvious this was going to be a difficult game. Werder are in good form at the moment. We were in control of the game, then Werder scored on the counter-attack and we lost our way a little. In the second half we created several clear-cut chances, but you have to score goals in football. Not for the first time this season, we weren't able to get the rewards are football deserved."

FC Augsburg 2-2 Eintracht Frankfurt


Markus Weinzierl (Augsburg): "We played very well for 45 minutes. The only thing that we're not happy with is the result. We could have scored a third or fourth goal. The 2-1 was the turning point in the game - it gave Eintracht confidence. We ran out of legs a little bit in the second half, but we have to be satisfied with the draw, which is ok."

Thomas Schaaf (Frankfurt): "We were incredibly disappointed with the first 45 minutes. We were too harmless in our challenges, weren't able to stamp our authority on the game and did a lot of things wrong. We had a very good period during the second half and perhaps we could have got more from the game if we had played more direct. Having said that, we're satisfied with the point."