Guardiola urges calm approach ahead of Barca clash

Pep Guardiola has urged his Bayern Munich players to “stay calm” in their midweek clash with Barcelona after slumping to a fourth successive defeat for the first time since 1991.

The Bundesliga champions – who had goalkeeper Pepe Reina sent off early on – were beaten 1-0 by Augsburg at the Allianz Arena on Saturday, with Paraguay international Raul Bobadilla grabbing the winner.

Bayern now turn their attentions to the UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg against Barca on Tuesday, when Guardiola’s men look to turnaround a 3-0 deficit from the first encounter at Camp Nou. 

“On Tuesday we have to stay calm, check our game and see what happens,” said Guardiola, who believes that fatigue from Wednesday’s loss to Barca was the main reason for Bayern’s lacklustre display against Augsburg. 

“I don’t think it was because we were outnumbered that we lost, I think that we were already stretched after the match with Barcelona.

“Because of injuries, we have no more players to play on the wing, so our full-backs must attack, but that also creates risks for the counter.

“At this moment, without players like [Arjen] Robben and [Franck] Ribery, then our full-backs have to do this, and Augsburg got the goal because of that.”