Pep Guardiola inspired Bayern Munich to victory over Juventus by telling his players he would cut their balls off if they did not seal Champions League progression.
Thomas Muller was Bayern’s saviour at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday, squaring the tie at 4-4 on aggregate in the first minute of stoppage time after Robert Lewandowski had cut a deficit opened up by Paul Pogba and Juan Cuadrado’s first-half goals.
Thiago Alcantara and Kingsley Coman then made the difference in the second half of extra time, sending Bayern into the quarter-finals, and Muller revealed how Guardiola’s surprising motivational tactics helped earn the win.
The Germany attacker told TZ: “Pep told us that he would cut our balls off if we didn’t beat Juventus!
“Of course, there was a lot of emotion involved during his speech. I think I would have been just like that had I been the coach.
“We all wanted to push for a third goal because we felt we still had something left in us.
“It really was a crazy game. We always knew we could get back in it, even if we were still two goals down late on.”
COMMENTS