Ribery focused on positives

Franck Ribery says that Bayern Munich’s 1-1 Champions League draw at Valencia on Tuesday should not be classed as a failure.

Valencia were forced to play with 10 men for almost an hour following Antonio Barragan’s red card, but Bayern’s Thomas Mueller had to be called upon to cancel out Sofiane Feghouli’s opener with just eight minutes remaining.

The result sealed Bayern’s passage into the knockout stages of the competition, and Ribery was focusing on the positives afterwards.

“I think we put ourselves in difficulty,” Ribery told beIN Sport. “It started well for us but Valencia played very well, even with 10 men.

“But it’s not a catastrophe. We earned a good point and that was our goal. Now we will try to finish first. But at Bayern, it is natural that when you don’t win, you’re left a little saddened.

The 29-year-old made way for Mario Gomez in the latter stages of the contest, and admitted that was not feeling good physically.

“For me, it was hard tonight,” he added. “I had a lot of trouble. I spoke a little with the physios, but I’d rather not play through such pain again.”