Relieved Dortmund vow to improve
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Article summary
There was relief for Mats Hummels as Borussia Dortmund progressed despite a 2-1 home loss to FC Zenit, but he, Marcel Schmelzer and Robert Lewandowski know they must improve.
Article top media content
Article body
Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels was "pleased to get through" to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after a 5-4 aggregate victory over FC Zenit, but admitted it had been difficult working out how to approach a match they were not under pressure to win.
Following the 2-1 round of 16 second-leg loss to the Russian side, Hummels joined team-mates Marcel Schmelzer and Robert Lewandowski – who will be suspended for the quarter-final first leg – in agreeing Dortmund will need to up their game if they wish to get beyond the last eight.
Mats Hummels, Dortmund defender
We're obviously pleased to get through. It's difficult when you know a draw or even a defeat could be enough. Zenit were a lot better tonight than they were in the first leg [which they lost 4-2]. I thought Danny in particular had a good game.
When we went 1-0 down I was thinking: 'Great, that's exactly what we didn't need,' but in the end it didn't matter. Our equaliser calmed us down a bit.
I'd like to play against a team I haven't played against before in the quarters. Maybe Manchester United, Barcelona or Chelsea. At the end of the day, though, it doesn't matter who we get – they're all going to be difficult.
Marcel Schmelzer, Dortmund defender
The most important thing tonight was getting through to the next round, so we're not too disappointed with the defeat because we achieved our goal. They had a number of players returning from injury for the second leg, whereas we were without Marco [Reus] – that does make a difference. It's tough at the moment. We've got a lot of players out injured and we're lacking freshness.
We need to concentrate on the Bundesliga now, but we'll take whatever we get in the quarter-finals. There's not such a thing as an easy draw at this stage.
Robert Lewandowski, Dortmund forward
It wasn't our best game tonight and I'm not sure why that was. Of course, we're happy to have reached the quarter-finals, but we're going to be up against a top team now. If we want to win we're going to have to give it 110% and play a lot better than we did tonight.
