Thomas Mueller defended Bayern Munich team-mate Arjen Robben after the winger showed his displeasure at being substituted in the 1-0 win at Borussia Mgladbach.

Mueller’s strike – only his second in the league this season – took Bayern 13 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga after Leipzig’s 3-0 defeat at Werder Bremen on Saturday.

But Robben’s strop dominated much of the post-match talk at the Borussia Park.

Robben cut a frustrated figure when Robert Lewandowski ignored him during a Bayern attack and he angrily stormed past Bayern boss Carlo Ancelotti when he was replaced five minutes from time.

“That shows he is still hungry,” Mueller told Sky Sports when asked about Robben’s reaction to being substituted.

“I think he was not happy with the moment where Lewandowski tried his luck himself rather than pass it to him.

“It is only a good thing that he remains hungry even though we hold a comfortable lead. That is why we are top of the table.

“It is great to hold such a big lead. We knew about Leipzig’s loss and wanted to win our game.

“We struggled in the first half against Frankfurt last week, but were 2-0 up. We were better this time, but it was 0-0. That is why we all love football, anything can happen.

“It was a good day for me. I knew I still have it in me and all my team-mates were happy for me.”

Robben struck the woodwork in the first half and Lewandowski missed three clear-cut chances as Bayern made heavy work of a 17th win in 19 games.

But Ancelotti admitted he had been taken aback by Gladbach’s energy just three days after their Europa League defeat to Bundesliga rivals Schalke.

“We played very well in the first half and had one or two good chances to go in front,” Ancelotti said.

“We struggled a little more after the break because Borussia stepped up their game.

“They caught us out on the counter a couple of times and made it very difficult for us towards the end.

“We weren’t expecting that exactly, as Gladbach had a very high intensity game on Thursday in the Europa League and didn’t have much time to recover.”

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