Ancelotti defends team selection after PSG defeat

Carlo Ancelotti defended his team selection after leaving Arjen Robben, Mats Hummels and Franck Ribery out of his starting line-up in a 3-0 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain.

All three players had started Bayern's previous fixture – a 2-2 draw at home to Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga – and Ancelotti rang the chances for the Champions League trip to Parc des Princes, starting with Javi Martinez alongside Niklas Sule in central defence and James Rodriguez in attack.

Robben was introduced as a second-half substitute but by then the hosts were already three goals to the good thanks to first-half strikes by Dani Alves and Edinson Cavani, and a 63rd-minute goal from Neymar.

When asked about his decision to make so many changes, Ancelotti told reporters: "I don't think my team selection was risky.

"I thought a lot about what the best team to play was. I know I will get criticism, that's fine. I thought it was a good line-up for this game."

Despite creating a number of good chances to score in the first half and going close through Martinez and Thomas Muller, Bayern failed to contain PSG's star-studded attack, with the combination of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe proving particularly problematic for the German champions.

Ancelotti said: "We didn't have the power to avoid their counter. In the first half, we had good control of the game, good possession, some chances.

"We were not dangerous enough and we didn't have balance. They played the whole game looking for the counter-attacks and we couldn't control that."

Robben, who was unable to make an impact during his 21 minutes on the field, admitted his team-mates were undone by PSG's counter-attacks but refused to criticise Ancelotti's selection.

"I won't say anything about it," he told ZDF when asked about the line-up. "Every word would be too much. We have to stand together, we don't need any trouble.

"They are so dangerous with counter attacks, they were very effective."