BERLIN — With his Bayern Munich team chasing a historic fourth straight Bundesliga title, Pep Guardiola is feeling the pressure from nearest rival Borussia Dortmund in the wake of Saturday’s goalless draw.
The much-anticipated clash of Germany’s giants finished goalless in the electric atmosphere of Dortmund’s Signal Park Arena in front of 81,359 fans.
But although Bayern remains five points clear of Dortmund, Guardiola’s team has taken just a point from its last two games after Wednesday’s shock 2-1 defeat at home Mainz.
Despite the healthy lead, Guardiola clearly see Dortmund as a threat to his plans.
The 45-year-old wants to sign off his three years with Bayern by seeing the club become the first to win four straight German league titles.
“For us every game is a final now, we want to win (the title). So it goes on,” said Guardiola, whose team won the title two years ago with a record seven games left.
“The second-half was good, we had enough goal chances to win the game, but Dortmund are a strong team. “They are the second-best team of all-time in Germany. “In the first 20 minutes, we had a few problems, but we improved. “Of course we wanted to win, but the 0-0 is okay.”
Guardiola singled out the performance of Joshua Kimmich, 21, who has been converted from a defensive midfielder to a center-back after a string of injuries.
“I love Joshua Kimmich, he has the will, the passion, he has absolutely everything,” said Guardiola, who will coach Manchester City next season. “With players like him, you can win everything.”
The result offers Dortmund hope. “We played very well in the first half and we didn’t lose our shape in defence over the 90 minutes,” said Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel.
“Bottom line is that it was a goalless draw and I am very happy with the performance the team delivered.”
“There are mixed feelings, I did a few things well, but you can always improve,” said Buerki.
Bayern striker Thomas Mueller echoed Guardiola’s sentiments that each league game is now a ‘mini’ final for the Bavarians.
“It remains exciting and we’re under pressure now for every Bundesliga game, which is how we must go into each league match,” said Mueller. “The rest of our Bundesliga matches will be like mini finals now.”
