Julian Nagelsmann knows this season cannot be considered a success for Bayern Munich after falling short of their "minimum goal" of making the Champions League semi-finals.
Bayern are on course for a 10th consecutive Bundesliga title, nine points clear of nearest challengers Borussia Dortmund with five games to play.
But as last season, Bayern have failed to win the DFB-Pokal and been eliminated from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage.
After being edged out by big-spending Paris Saint-Germain in 2020-21, underdogs Villarreal put paid to their European hopes this time, claiming a 1-1 draw in Germany on Tuesday to claim a 2-1 aggregate success.
Samuel Chukwueze's late equaliser saw Bayern eliminated in the last eight for the eighth time in the Champions League era – more than any other side.
It was the first time Bayern had failed to win consecutive matches at any stage of the competition since facing Liverpool in the last 16 in 2018-19.
On the back of that disappointment, Nagelsmann was unwilling to be complacent about the Bundesliga title race as he considered the season as a whole.
"It depends on what happens in the Bundesliga," said the first-year Bayern coach.
"If we win that, we've matched what we did last year, which is not enough for Bayern Munich. The semi-finals should have been our minimum goal, but we've not done it."
While Nagelsmann insisted the damage had been done in Spain, he ranked this result among the three most disappointing of his coaching career.
"To be honest, this is one of the worst three defeats of my career," he said. "Hoffenheim v Liverpool was tough. RB Leipzig v PSG was difficult to take. We had plenty of chances, this is certainly one of the three toughest occasions.
"As to how we lift the team, everything works as normal. I'll do my job as usual. [On Wednesday] we'll start preparing for our next Bundesliga game and I'll get the team ready for it.
"A team like Bayern has experience with good and bad results. You win together and lose together, and you have to prepare for the next matches together.
"It's not easy, we will feel bad about [Tuesday], but I will do my best to lift the team."
Nagelsmann will be relieved he will at least not have to face Villarreal again this season, having grown frustrated by the approach of the LaLiga side, who had just four attempts but scored with their only shot on target.
Crucially, they limited Bayern to four shots on target from their 23 efforts, making seven blocks, and won 11 fouls to slow the pace of the game.
"It's difficult when the opposition have eight defenders in the penalty box, so it's never that easy to find your rhythm," Nagelsmann said.
"We have to score from winning the ball back, as we did. In other situations, it's super difficult.
"That's a part of how football is in southern Europe. I don't want to open up any discussion I'll have to apologise for next week, but everyone has to see their style for themselves.
"We had a couple of strong tackles where players could reasonably stay down, but not every situation needs to end with a player staying down for three minutes. I'm not going to make excuses about that, though."
Swiatek hammers Potapova to breeze into French Open quarter-finals
Iga Swiatek cruised into the French Open quarter-finals after thrashing Anastasia Potapova in a straight-sets victory on Sunday.
The world number one survived a third-round scare in a three-set thriller with Naomi Osaka, but had little trouble in making the last eight at Roland-Garros.
Swiatek did not drop a game en route to her fourth-round demolition of world number 41 Potapova on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
An expectant Paris crowd was treated to one-way traffic as Swiatek claimed the first set in 20 minutes, condemning Potapova to the dreaded bagel.
Further pain followed for Potapova as Swiatek wrapped up a 6-0 6-0 victory in just 41 minutes after a clay-court hammering.
Swiatek's victory sets up a quarter-final meeting with either Olga Danilovic or Marketa Vondrousova, the latter the fifth seed in the French capital.
Data Debrief: Swiatek on fire
Swiatek is now only the third player in the Open Era to claim 6-0 6-0 victories at Roland-Garros in consecutive years, after Gabriela Sabatini (1992-93) and Mary Pierce (1993-94).
The Pole has also claimed 13.6 per cent of her total sets played on clay at WTA level by a score of 6-0. Among players with 10+ 6-0 sets on the surface since 2000, that is the highest rate of any player in completed matches.
Jones makes mockery of Canada as USA dominate T20 World Cup opener
The United States recorded a statement victory over rivals Canada in their first-ever T20 World Cup outing, as Aaron Jones and Andries Gous stole the show in a seven-wicket triumph.
Canada opener Navneet Dhaliwal powered 61 off just 44 balls, while Nicholas Kirton's 51 and an unbeaten 32 from Shreyas Movva helped their side set a target of 195 in Dallas.
The USA responded by losing Steven Taylor for a two-ball duck and slipped to 42-2 after the powerplay when Dilon Heyliger had captain Monank Patel caught behind for 16.
Yet that set the stage for an eye-catching partnership between Jones and Gous, who combined for a 131-run blitz at a whirlwind run rate of 14.3 for the third wicket.
Number three Gous bludgeoned 65 from only 46 deliveries but was somehow overshadowed by the impressive Jones, who finished 94 not out after facing just 40 balls.
Gous holed out off the bowling of Nikhil Dutta but Jones fittingly finished the chase with 14 balls to spare, securing USA's fifth straight win over Canada in the pair's first-ever World Cup appearance.
Data Debrief: Jones almost matches Gayle record
Jones cleared the ropes 10 times during his destructive performance, with only West Indies' Chris Gayle hitting more sixes in one World Cup innings (11 against England in 2016 at Wankhede).
USA vice-captain Jones had only reached 50 once in this format before this innings, but announced his arrival on the world stage with an emphatic performance.
Inter Miami 3-3 St. Louis City: Alba stars as Messi makes history in MLS draw
Lionel Messi achieved an unprecedented MLS feat on Sunday but his heroics, and a star Jordi Alba performance, could not drag Inter Miami past St. Louis City in a thrilling 3-3 draw.
The Argentina and Barcelona great levelled proceedings after Chris Durkin's early opener, taking Messi to 25 goal contributions this term in just 12 MLS appearances – shattering the previous record by Carlos Vela.
Indiana Vassilev edged the visitors back ahead before Luis Suarez restored parity on the stroke of half-time at Miami's Chase Stadium.
Gerardo Martino's side fell behind again after Suarez turned into his own net but Alba, who assisted Miami's first two goals, saved the day with an 85th-minute equaliser to salvage a point.
The draw left Miami top of the Eastern Conference by two points but second-placed FC Cincinnati have two games in hand over Martino's star-studded line-up.
Meanwhile, St. Louis remain 11th in the Western Conference but just three points adrift of ninth-placed Portland Timbers having played two games fewer.
Data Debrief: Messi history in MLS
Having shattered records across historic spells with Barcelona and Argentina, Messi now has another MLS achievement on his sparkling resume.
Messi became the fastest player to 25 goal contributions in an MLS season, recording 12 goals and 13 assists to surpass the previous record established by Vela in 2019 (16 games, four more than Messi).
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