Reactions to the 1-4 in Manchester: "In the end, it was one goal too many" | OneFootball

After securing seven points from the first three games, Borussia Dortmund suffered their first defeat on the fourth matchday of the Champions League. This loss, which occurred at Manchester City, was not entirely unexpected and ended with a clear 1-4 result. The BVB protagonists were bothered by the scoreline, but did not deny that Man City was the deserved winner.

"We didn't actually play that badly, but at times it was just too poor," goalkeeper Gregor Kobel made clear, emphasizing that against top teams like Man City, you simply can't afford to take breaks. He saw the first goal conceded as a turning point: "We were doing great until then and played a good game. After that, they had many chances, were very dangerous, and clearly took over the game. I still think that four goals in the end are too many."

"In the end, it was one goal too many on the other side," noted Waldemar Anton, who at times even had hopes for a comeback: "In the second half, we tried to do better, to increase the intensity a bit, which worked well. We kept the game very open. Even after the 3-1, we still had the chance to make it 3-2."

Kovac Identifies the Difference

This phase was also mentioned by Nico Schlotterbeck, who nonetheless drew a hard but honest conclusion: "After the 1-3, we had a good phase where Carney was a bit late against Donnarumma. If our second goal had come then, maybe something could have happened. Nonetheless, one has to say: We lost deservedly because we simply weren't good enough."

Niko Kovac largely agreed with his players' analyses: "It was a deserved defeat, even if by one goal too many," said the BVB coach, who also became more specific in his statements: "On the other side, there was, of course, a high level of quality. The difference was evident today: the passing sequences that City played were much cleaner than ours. In detail, in cleanliness, they were much better than us today – and that's why they got a lot more out of it."

"We are not yet at the level of this team, but that's not a bad thing. We want to get there, we need to improve, we have to work on it daily," Kovac left no doubt that there is still some catching up to do, but he still drew a positive interim conclusion halfway through the league phase: "If someone had told me beforehand that we would get seven points from the first four games, I wouldn't have been dissatisfied."

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