Vincent Kompany felt that Bayern Munich held a lid on their emotions after his side held his side to beat Boca Juniors 2-1 during the Club World Cup.
The late goal of Michael Olise sealed a 2-1 victory for Bayern on Friday, while the Bundesliga champions their place in the last 16 insured persons.
Harry Kane brought Bayern ahead to Miami, but Argentinian giant Boca made Merentiel right in the 66th minute.
Kompany explained that it would have been easy for his team to switch on the nerves, but instead they regained their calmness.
“We had to work a lot today, but we did the job – we are in the last 16 and I am really happy with that,” he said.
“You saw how difficult it is for European teams to play against South American parties. I think we really did well.
“We checked the emotions in the game. Yes, we admitted a goal, but we remained calm. And the way we saw the game was very mature. In general it was a solid performance.”
While the scarce crowds during some Clubworld cup competitions met the headlines, Kompany was surprised with the atmosphere at the Hard Rock Stadium.
“The atmosphere was just incredible. If you are not here, you can't understand it, but if you're in the middle of it, it's an experience, a privilege,” added the Bayern boss.
“We are happy that we started the tournament with two wins.”
Bayern's victory over Boca ended a series of nine consecutive games that are unbeaten for South American teams to start the World Cup Club, with Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea already fell Botafogo and Flamengo respectively.
Kane, who opened his account before the tournament after not finding the network in Bayern's 10-0 Route of Auckland City, feels that the progression of his team to the next round is just a reward for how seriously they take this competition.
“It was a big achievement of the boys,” said Kane. “We knew that it would not be easy with the warm weather. The first half was really good, we should have been two or three up. It was harder in the second, they put us under a bit of pressure and once they scored, we shifted it back in our direction.
“It was great to score the goal and the qualification of the goal. It is a huge tournament, we play against the best teams in the world. Our attitude is always that we have to produce our highest level. So far it is going well in this competition.”
Bayern around Tuesday off their group C campaign against Benfica, who defeated Auckland 6-0 in their second game of the competition, in the Bank of America Stadium.