Marco Reus has revealed he went into Borussia Dortmund's 2-2 Champions League draw with Real Madrid on Wednesday with a cold.
Reus, 27, grabbed a late equaliser from off the bench against Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu to secure top spot in Group F for Dortmund ahead of the Spanish side.
But the Germany international, who has scored three goals and set up a further six in four matches since returning from an adductor injury, admits he almost missed the match through illness.
"I was ill for the past two, three days," Reus told reporters. "I would have loved to start here, but the risk was too high. Thus we decided that I'd come from the bench. I am still not at 100 percent."
Reus finished off a Dortmund counterattack to pull level two minutes from time against Madrid. Emre Mor won the ball against Marcelo close to BVB's box and sent Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang bursting down the right wing, with the striker then squaring a pass to Reus to slot home.
"Auba deserves 99 percent credit for this goal," Reus said, adding that his run down the right was "world class."
While Dortmund set a new Champions League record of scoring 21 goals during the group stage this season, they also conceded nine goals, and Reus warned that the team now needs to improve on their defending.
"It goes without saying that we also really need to try to defend better as a team because we have conceded too many goals in our last few games," Reus said. "Ultimately we haven't really been made to suffer for it because we've scored so many at the other end, but we do need to try to defend better."
Dortmund have now beaten Madrid to the top of a Champions League group twice in the past five seasons, and Reus said: "It's extremely important for us we did that. We worked hard for it. We can be proud."