The former Barcelona boss has accused Arsene Wenger’s side of merely waiting for the Bavarians to lose the ball in the hope of hitting their hosts on the counterattack

Pep Guardiola has defended Bayern Munich’s performance against Arsenal on Tuesday night, claiming that it had been difficult for his troops to find space against a side that he felt had played without any ambition.

The Gunners had gone into the second leg of what had been an eagerly-awaited Champions League last-16 tie trailing 2-0 on aggregate.

Consequently, Guardiola was surprised by what he perceived as Arsenal’s unwillingness to attack at the Allianz Arena and felt that Bayern were unlucky to win a game that ended 1-1, with Lukas Podolski having almost immediately cancelled out Bastian Schweinsteiger’s 55th-minute opener for the hosts.

“We had a lot of control but the opponent didn’t come to push,” the former Spain international told his club’s official website.

“It’s 2-0 in the head of the players and it’s not easy. We’re 2-0 up and we wanted just to control the game.

“We didn’t want to attack too much but we got forward many times and we dominated the game.

“We were very intelligent. We wanted to stifle Arsenal’s counterattacks and control the game.

“We only allowed them one chance in the first half. All Arsenal did was wait for us to lose the ball. Overall, we did very well.

“After they made it 1-1 we had a few problems for 15 minutes but nothing major. We’re pleased and everything’s good.”

Bayern’s 3-1 aggregate success means that they remain on course to become the first side to successfully defend the Champions League, with the German champions having beaten compatriots Borussia Dortmund in last year’s final.