Football
Stefan Buczko, Dortmund blogger 5y

Borussia Dortmund deserved loss to Atletico Madrid - Marco Reus

Borussia Dortmund captain Marco Reus said that his team deserved their first defeat of the season after falling 2-0 away to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

BVB's 15-game unbeaten run was broken up by the Spanish outfit, who were seeking revenge for a 4-0 loss at the Westfalenstadion a fortnight ago.

Saul Niguez opened the scoring after 33 minutes against a timid Dortmund team and the hosts killed-off the contest 10 minutes before the end of regular time with France international Antoine Griezmann finishing a counter-attack.

"It was an unnecessary defeat today," Reus, 29, told DAZN after the game, adding: "because we controlled the game for the first 25, 30 minutes with a lot of possession. We lost our grip on the match right after the goal.

"Obviously, it's always tough to be 1-0 down away to Atletico. It wasn't our best match and in the end, we deserved to lose our first match [of the season]. We weren't mentally sharp enough tonight. Now it's time to recuperate and then we have another game on Saturday."

Dortmund failed to register a shot on target throughout the 90 minutes and Favre gave all credit to Diego Simeone's side for their defensive display.

The 61-year-old said: "Atletico played extremely well defensively today. They were patient and a massive threat after winning the ball. We lost the ball far too often today. We should have played with even more patience away from home in order to avoid these situations. We had 70 per cent possession but it should have been more to prevent the counter-attacks.

"On the ball, we were also too static and didn't manage to find the gaps in the half-spaces because of that. It's a defeat -- that can happen. It's just a game of football. Now, we'll have time to think about how we beat Bayern."

The Black and Yellows remain on top of Group A due to better goal difference albeit being level on points with Atletico.

Meanwhile, midfielder Mario Gotze refused to be downbeat after the loss at the Wanda Metropolitano. The substitute, who came on in the 75th minute after overcoming an illness said: "Losing the first game is an unusual situation for us but we knew that it was going to be an intense week for us with Atletico and Bayern.

"We can be very proud of what we've achieved thus far and the results we strung together."

On Saturday, BVB will look to widen the gap to seven points over Bundesliga rivals FC Bayern at the top of the table.

Gotze said: "We know that Bayern will be a tough fixture but we want to win it, especially because of how the Bundesliga looks like at the top of the table. We're looking forward to it. We play at home; Saturday 6.30 pm kick-off; it's the perfect setting."

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