Football
PA Sport 8y

Dortmund's Thomas Tuchel relieved to win; didn't hear whistles in Mainz

Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel was relieved with his side's 2-0 win at Mainz on Friday night, even if he admitted it had hardly been vintage football from his side.

The Westphalians took full advantage of two defensive mistakes, scoring through Marco Reus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Reus even missed a generously awarded penalty.

Getting the three points any which way they could was all that mattered to Tuchel on his return to his former club, following a 5-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in their last league game.

With that in mind, he was not concerned about his side's overall performance.

"These three points were twice and three times as important because I know how hard it is to win in Mainz," Tuchel told Sky Sport Deutschland.

"It was a bit shaky from us, but I don't care at all about that. You could tell that we'd drawn three and been given a beating in Munich.

"I had a hunch it would be like this. You can't expect it to be so easy for us, but I'm really delighted with how my team rose to the occasion."

Tuchel could also be quite pleased about the reception he received from the majority of the home fans, although there were a few whistles when his name was announced and when he appeared on the touchline.

"I didn't hear anything," Tuchel said. "But it was a bit strange to be standing on the other side here in Mainz.

"It took me a while to get my bearings."

Those bearings show Dortmund back to within four points of Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga, at least for a night.

Bayern can pull away again when they travel to Werder Bremen on Saturday, although Dortmund are only concerning themselves with what is happening below them and not above them in the table anyway.

"That game in Munich had taken its toll on us, which is what made it such an intensive and exciting game," said Dortmund's director of sport Michael Zorc.

"Now of course we are delighted that we've been able to get three points again."

^ Back to Top ^