Guardiola pleased with winning start

Bayern Munich head coach Pep Guardiola says his team would have received a boost from their 3-1 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Arjen Robben, Mario Mandzukic and David Alaba all scored for Bayern as they started their defence of the Bundesliga title with a win at home against Gladbach and Guardiola, in his first league match as coach, was pleased to have claimed three points as his side continues to come together.

With Bastian Schweinsteiger, Dante and Javi Martinez among the players yet to reach full fitness, Guardiola was happy to see Bayern overcome a lacklustre start to the second half and clinch victory in Munich on Friday.

“We are pleased that we have won the first match, we need results in the first three or four games,” Guardiola said after the match.

“Because some players are still not at 100 per cent, we struggled in the first 15 minutes of the second half to control the game.”

Bayern were awarded two penalties within a minute of each other in the second half with Thomas Mueller having his spot-kick saved by visiting goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen before Alvaro Dominguez handled the ball as he attempted to clear it.

Alaba stepped up to slot Bayern’s second penalty and, afterwards, Guardiola claimed both spot-kicks were justified.

“Both penalty decisions of the officials was right, I would have given them as well,” the 42-year-old Spaniard said.

Guardiola added the win would give his team confidence, especially as they won without new signings Mario Goetze and Thiago Alcantara, while Bayern midfielder Toni Kroos conceded Bayern were not at their best against Gladbach.

“You never know where everyone is in the first league match,” Kroos said.

“It’s always important to win the game.

“We played good football in parts, although we probably let Gladbach in the game too much.

“We can be better but it was a deserved win, all in all.”