Carlo Ancelotti was keeping his feet firmly on the ground after seeing Bayern Munich launch their Champions League campaign in style with a 5-0 demolition of FC Rostov.
Bayern, who have reached the semifinals for the past three seasons, opened their Group D account with a record 13th successive home victory in the competition, but Ancelotti was refusing to be carried away.
He told www.uefa.com: “It was a good start to our Champions League campaign. It was difficult to score early on, we didn’t have many chances. We got there.
“At the moment, the team is in good condition, both physically and mentally.
“I’m sure that we will be competitive right to the end [in the Champions League]. But we have to take it step by step. The squad is competitive, we’ll have to see what happens.
“We have to win the group first and await the draw. Our first goal is to win the group, we started well and the next game will be really difficult against Atletico [Madrid] but the team is in good shape at the moment.”
Robert Lewandowski fired the home side ahead from the penalty spot after 26 minutes and Thomas Muller doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time.
But a double from Joshua Kimmich after the break and substitute Juan Bernat’s late strike completed a comprehensive victory which left Rostov boss Ivan Danilyants wondering what had hit him.
He said: “We have never played against a team that played like Bayern today. We tried hard to hold them off and stay organised.
“Then the first goal came from an unfortunate penalty, the rest from quick counters. This side is different to the one under Pep Guardiola, they are much more direct.”
Kimmich said of his recent goals form that his confidence is high, despite not being known for scoring.
“Many have said that once one goal goes in then you are up and running. At the moment it’s going well, at least in the last few games,” he said.
“I wasn’t as successful [at scoring] as a youth player only scoring three or four goals per season. I’m matching that at the moment and want to keep this run going”
Kimmich laughed off suggestions that he would push Lewandowski for the team lead in scoring. He said: “f I know Lewandowski correctly, he’ll score more soon so he doesn’t need to worry too much.”
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