'It was difficult to win here'

The international break did not knock Bayern out of their stride, but the men from Munich had to work hard for Saturday's 3-1 victory over Schalke. “It was difficult to win here,” commented Pep Guardiola, who was pleased with his team’s performance.

Reaction to Schalke v Bayern:

Pep Guardiola: “It was difficult to win here, but we succeeded. A huge compliment to my team. The turf wasn't good, it was tough against Schalke's back five, and they're very quick down the middle. We did very well until we conceded the goal. After the break we controlled the match again. When we were back in the lead we failed to deliver the final pass. It's three more points.”

Thomas Müller: “You have to work hard for every single victory in the Bundesliga. Our opponents make it difficult for us, the back five is quite popular at the moment. Our opponents try everything, so we have to give 100 percent in every match. We played reasonably well. It was annoying to concede the equaliser from a counter-attack.”

Manuel Neuer: “The victory was deserved. Max Meyer's shot was tricky, but I had to save it. The wet turf sped up the ball. I wanted to turn it round the post – it didn't work. Even though we're eight points ahead now nothing is decided.”

André Breitenreiter (Schalke coach): “We turned in a magnificent performance in terms of tactics. My lads put our plan into action perfectly. We left hardly any space for Bayern to create chances and we were highly dangerous in the transitions to attack. But a minor mistake was enough for Bayern to make it 2-1. The team had a chance, so we're moving on with optimism.”

Ralf Fährmann (Schalke keeper): “We can hardly blame ourselves. For 90 minutes we tried to fight with the options available to us. We did it very well. Bayern mercilessly punished the slight mistakes we made, and that leaves a bitter taste. It's just Bayern's quality. We're in a period of transition, we need more than just a few months. We just need to be patient.”