Football
ESPN staff 9y

Jurgen Klopp says 'leaving hurts a lot' after final defeat with Dortmund

Jurgen Klopp was graceful in defeat, praising his Wolfsburg manager Dieter Hecking for winning the DFB Pokal and effectively spoiling his final game in charge of Borussia Dortmund.

Wolfsburg triumphed 3-1 in Berlin to pick up their first trophy since winning the Bundesliga in 2009, while it was Hecking's first-ever title win.

"He deserves it," Klopp said. "We did a lot right, but we had no luck at all with our moves. Wolfsburg deserved to win, but it was an unnecessary defeat for us.

"We conceded three goals in 16 minutes."

Klopp announced in April that he would leave Dortmund after the end of the season after leading BVB to a seventh-placed Bundesliga finish. The club will have to endure two qualification rounds before reaching the Europa League group stage next season.

"Leaving hurts a lot," Klopp said after his final game. "I've tried to express my thanks to each of my players. It was a huge honour to work with these guys and I've noticed that it hurts a lot to leave them.

"I know life goes on, but still, you need a few moments."

It did not look like Dortmund would leave Berlin empty-handed after they took a fifth-minute lead through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Klopp's dream of ending his seven-year spell atop a lorry driving through the Dortmund city centre carrying the team and a trophy looked like it would come true, but Wolfsburg had other ideas.

"It was a fantastic performance from my whole team," said Hecking. "We had to be strong at the back, but we knew how lethal we are up front too."

Kevin De Bruyne felt that the squad were galvanised after the death of Junior Malanda, with their desire to do something special for their former teammate driving them on.

Since Malanda was killed in a car accident in January, Wolfsburg were the Bundesliga's second-best team in the second half of the season and worthy winners of the cup.

"I think Junior Malanda helped us a lot in this second half of the season," De Bruyne said. "He was always in my mind and gave me strength for games like these."

Goalkeeper Diego Benaglio added: "We wanted to win this game for Junior. He is still part of this team and he will always be part of us.

"He played in this competition this season too, so he is also a real cup winner."

Information from The Associated Press and Press Association was used in this report.

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