Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes was critical of his team’s second-half display in the 2-1 win over Valencia on Wednesday.
The Bundesliga giants dominated the first half but stepped off the gas after the break and failed to close out the Champions League opener.
Although Toni Kroos added to Bastian Schweinsteiger’s earlier strike, Valencia netted a consolation effort in stoppage-time, through Nelson Valdez, to deny the hosts a clean sheet in Group F.
“Valencia tried to counter-attack, but we gave them few chances to score,” Heynckes said.
“We conceded a late goal, which cannot happen so easily in future. Missing the penalty is also something we won’t get away with again.”
While he was pleased his team collected all three points at the Allianz Arena, Heynckes said there was still room for improvement.
“It was not that easy to win today,” he said.
“Nevertheless, we should have made more of our midfield pressure and maybe could have been a bit more adventurous going forward.”
Valencia coach Mauricio Pellegrino expressed his disappointment after the loss, which ended with Adil Rami being sent off when he picked up his second yellow card in additional time.
The La Liga side were second best for large periods of the game and Pellegrino voiced his concerns with the way his team approached the game.
“It has not been a good game. We had too much fear at the beginning,” the 40-year-old Argentine told reporters.
“Perhaps we showed them too much respect. That is one of the reasons for our defeat, but overall we were solid.”
Pellegrino watched his side fail to create goalscoring opportunities in a toothless first-half performance, but was pleased with how they responded after the break.
“We gave the ball away a lot, especially in the first half. We had no support when we brought the ball out, and we were not in the right positions,” he said.
“In the second half we improved, but against a team like Bayern mistakes like these make things very difficult.”
