Reactions to 2-1 in Leverkusen: "A great away performance" | OneFootball

After the recent draws against Hamburger SV (1:1) and VfB Stuttgart (3:3), Borussia Dortmund followed up their 4:0 Champions League win against FC Villarreal with another victory in the Bundesliga on Saturday. BVB won the chaser duel at Bayer Leverkusen 2:1, climbing to third place and reinforcing their claim to be at least the number two in German football.

Knowing they had won against a strong opponent, Sebastian Kehl was very satisfied: “We had a lot planned for this game. The team executed it really well, and hopefully, the discussion will now stop that we can't win against big teams this season,” said the sporting director, who saw a deserved victory but also included a small critique in his positive summary: “We played a really cool away game today, which we should have decided for ourselves earlier in the second half.”

Praise from Niko Kovac

Niko Kovac shared this view, who would have preferred to avoid the nail-biting finish: “In the end, we deserved to win, even though we should have decided the game earlier. We had huge chances for the third goal,” criticized the BVB coach for the lack of efficiency, but overall praised his team: “You have to control the game well here in Leverkusen first. Compliments, I like that, and that's the football we need. We have to win games, and we did that today against a really good opponent. We defended very well, and I am really proud of that.”

Julian Brandt, who could feel addressed due to a missed great chance at 2:0, showed self-criticism: “I actually had it in my hands to decide the game. I should have scored, but the shot slipped a bit.” The midfielder also emphasized that he wasn't too worried in the end: “We are not a team that always concedes an equalizer somehow in the 90th minute.”

Brandt quickly put the success in the BayArena behind him, considering the upcoming cup match on Tuesday at Signal Iduna Park against Leverkusen, and was already looking forward to another challenging task: “It continues on Tuesday. It's different away than when you play at home. Now we have the pleasure of playing at home on Tuesday. Leverkusen – those have always been extremely close duels in recent years, and I expect the same on Tuesday.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.