Disappointment was the predominant feeling amongst the Borussia Dortmund players after their Champions League exit in the last 16. The team was left with nothing and were beaten quite convincingly, 2-1 in the first leg and 3-0 in the second leg, by Juventus. Borussia Dortmund captain and Germany international Mats Hummels spoke to DFB.de about the team’s exit, missed goal scoring opportunities and the upcoming challenges.
DFB.de: Mats Hummels, how do you explain the 3-0 loss to Juventus?
Mats Hummels: The first half was okay but in the second half, our performance level dropped. We conceded possession way too easily and too often. We deserved to lose by such an emphatic margin in the end. We know that we simply didn’t play well and deserved to be knocked out. I don’t think that anyone could question how dominant and technically superior Juve were in the second half. We couldn’t get back into the game.
DFB.de: Did you think that your Champions League campaign would come to an end tonight?
Hummels: We knew that we could be knocked out. I didn’t imagine beforehand that it would be as a result of such a disappointing second half performance. If the result is documented somewhere in the programme in 15 years time, nobody will remember if we were unfortunate or not to lose.
DFB.de: Combining the results from both legs, it finished 5-1 on aggregate. Is this proof that BVB currently aren’t good enough for the quarter-finals?
Hummels: Let’s put it this way: we weren’t good enough to tear the competition apart and really challenge this year. Everybody has seen that. We didn’t play well except for the first half in Turin. The 5-1 aggregate is possibly due to the fact that we had to take some risks to try and get a result. At the end of the day, the end score isn’t important; what matters is that we’ve been knocked out.
DFB.de: What was the team’s main problem during the game?
Disappointment was the predominant feeling amongst the Borussia Dortmund players after their Champions League exit in the last 16. The team was left with nothing and were beaten quite convincingly, 2-1 in the first leg and 3-0 in the second leg, by Juventus. Borussia Dortmund captain and Germany international Mats Hummels spoke to DFB.de about the team’s exit, missed goal scoring opportunities and the upcoming challenges.
DFB.de: Mats Hummels, how do you explain the 3-0 loss to Juventus?
Mats Hummels: The first half was okay but in the second half, our performance level dropped. We conceded possession way too easily and too often. We deserved to lose by such an emphatic margin in the end. We know that we simply didn’t play well and deserved to be knocked out. I don’t think that anyone could question how dominant and technically superior Juve were in the second half. We couldn’t get back into the game.
DFB.de: Did you think that your Champions League campaign would come to an end tonight?
Hummels: We knew that we could be knocked out. I didn’t imagine beforehand that it would be as a result of such a disappointing second half performance. If the result is documented somewhere in the programme in 15 years time, nobody will remember if we were unfortunate or not to lose.
DFB.de: Combining the results from both legs, it finished 5-1 on aggregate. Is this proof that BVB currently aren’t good enough for the quarter-finals?
Hummels: Let’s put it this way: we weren’t good enough to tear the competition apart and really challenge this year. Everybody has seen that. We didn’t play well except for the first half in Turin. The 5-1 aggregate is possibly due to the fact that we had to take some risks to try and get a result. At the end of the day, the end score isn’t important; what matters is that we’ve been knocked out.
DFB.de: What was the team’s main problem during the game?
Hummels: We tried to use a short passing game but also some riskier passes and dribbling moves to break through Juve’s defence. We rarely managed to achieve this though. I think that we also then started to lose our belief. Sometimes we opted to pass instead of going for goal. Once or twice we tried our luck from distance; this is what we were restricted to against a team who defended so deeply.
DFB.de: How much did conceding an early goal influence the game?
Hummels: Going 1-0 down early on hurt us. Tevez’s finish was world class! However, the three players around him could have applied more pressure. It’s not every day though that you see such a pure strike. We can’t deny that it was a real shock for us. We had a period of the game afterwards when we could really put them under some pressure but we didn’t create enough goal scoring opportunities.
DFB.de: How come you couldn’t carve out so many chances?
Hummels: There are different reasons for this. We didn’t get enough bodies in the box when we had crossing opportunities. It even became tricky to get a shot on goal from distance. I think that there are certain elements of our game that we need to work on.
DFB.de: After the loss and Champions League exit, how much confidence will the team have going into the upcoming games?
Hummels: We’ll have to wait and see. You can quickly build and lose self-confidence. We realised this for ourselves when we won in Freiburg after a really poor run of results. At once we regained some self-confidence. It could happen again in Hannover; however, it won’t come easily. We need to work hard for it.
DFB.de: How sad are you that you won’t feature again in the Champions League for at least another year and a half?
Hummels: We’re obviously disappointed; it’s hard to imagine. The Champions League is a fantastic competition which we have thoroughly enjoyed, with the exception of tonight’s game. I have fond memories, particularly of home games. It’s a pity that we won’t be able to be a part of it for a while. It’s down to us to bring Champions League football back to Dortmund.
