|
Marco Reus has hailed Borussia Dortmund's 3-2 comeback win over Bayern Munich in Wednesday's DFB Pokal semifinal as a testament to his teammates' self-belief.
BVB rallied from 2-1 down to defeat the reigning champions, in a topsy-turvy match that saw Reus hand BVB the lead after just 19 minutes.
Bayern soon took control, however, with goals from central defenders Javi Martinez and Mats Hummels ensuring that the hosts went into the half-time break on top.
"I think we started really well, but it's incredibly hard to play here -- defending and going forward. We hardly had anything for us offensively in the first, but we managed to improve after the break," Reus told German broadcasters ARD after the match.
"[At] 2-1, nobody expected us to come back except for us. We said at halftime that we have to believe in ourselves and that's what we did. You have to believe, we wanted to go to Berlin.
"Bayern had the better chances in the second half, but they didn't score. We converted two counter-attacks and now we're the ones in the final. It was a massive achievement for us today. Now we're looking forward to the final against Frankfurt."
Manager Thomas Tuchel agreed with his attacker, pointing to Dortmund's 4-1 loss to Bayern in the Bundesliga two and a half weeks ago as an example of how his side could have let the game get away from them.
"The 4-1 loss was awkwardly placed between another important Bundesliga fixture [derby against Schalke] and a Champions League quarterfinal against Monaco," Tuchel explained.
"We had to make do without Marco Reus, Shinji Kagawa and Julian Weigl and Bayern were at full strength, so we knew beforehand that all the luck in the world couldn't save us.
"We put the game behind us and said that it was necessary to gain valuable experience.
"[In Wednesday's match], we were better overall. We gained more hold of the match with each minute passing and from the 60th minute on I thought we were playing well, although still made too many errors for my taste."
#INSERT type:image caption: Marco Reus' 19th-minute strike handed Dortmund an early lead. END#
Ousmane Dembele's strike 16 minutes from time sent Dortmund into their fourth-straight DFB Pokal final. Tuchel, however, was cautious not to lavish too much praise on the 19-year-old starlet, insisting that the France international was still learning his trade at the highest level.
"It's not about teaching him new tricks -- he has all the tools he needs," Tuchel said.
"It's more about him learning when to take a risk and when it would be bad for everyone else on his teams if he loses the ball, about knowing when to make a swift change of direction and when to play it simple.
"For him, it's about gaining experience and getting a feeling for the situation."
Dortmund will face Eintracht Frankfurt in the DFB Pokal final after they beat Borussia Monchengladbach 7-6 on penalties in the other seminal.
|
