WARSAW -- Thomas Tuchel has stressed that Borussia Dortmund had to work hard for their 6-0 win over Legia Warsaw in Wednesday night's Champions League opener.
Legia coach Besnik Hasi admitted after the match that his team are not ready to play in the Champions League, but the visiting manager did not echo his counterpart's sentiments.
"Even if it looked easy, there was a lot of our work behind it," Tuchel told reporters.
"Legia's problem was that we were very efficient in the first 25 minutes. We quickly scored goals that helped us to get more self-confidence for the remaining part of the game.
"Were Dortmund so good or Legia so weak? I don't want to be philosophical here and judge it in this way. We were just the better team, we had more scoring opportunities than Legia.
"Winning 6-0 means we put a lot of work in and I hope we will continue to work in this way. I can only give the team a big compliment."
The Polish champions were demolished by the Bundesliga runners-up, who only needed 17 minutes to score three goals and end Warsaw's hopes of winning a point in their first 2016-17 Champions League hitout.
"It's a catastrophe. We conceded very, very easy goals," a shattered Hasi told his post-match news conference.
"The way we defended the set pieces was ridiculous. Our defending was unacceptable.
"But this is reality. The reality is that these teams are much, much better than us. The Polish league is our level."
Hasi added that the upcoming matches in the group stages of Champions League against Sporting Lisbon and Real Madrid will not be easier, and said that the first Polish side to compete in Europe's biggest competition was drawn into "the worst group" of them all.
"I think nobody was hoping we would advance from the group," he said. "It will not get easier for us. This competition is a much higher level. My players were surprised by the speed of execution."
Legia Warsaw will face Sporting away on Matchday Two of the Champions League, while Dortmund will host reigning champions Real Madrid.