Favre: Dortmund stayed calm in hunt for winner
Posted Sunday, March 31, 2019 by PA
Borussia Dortmund boss Lucien Favre insists his side kept their cool before a late double from Paco Alcacer secured victory over Wolfsburg and a return to the top of the Bundesliga.
Dortmund, who were missing leading scorer Marco Reus, appeared set to have to settle for a draw as the game entered injury time still deadlocked at 0-0.
But Alcacer finally made the breakthrough when he scored direct from a free-kick in the first minute of stoppage time, and the Spain striker wrapped up the points when he tapped in a second three minutes later.
“We’ve stayed calm because we know anything is possible until the whistle,” Favre told dvb.de
“We really wanted to score in the last 15 minutes, so we also increased the risk a bit.”
The win sees Dortmund reclaim first place in the standings from Bayern Munich, who were held to a draw at Freiburg.
Favre added of the match: “Both teams defended well and had good phases in the game.
“We put on pressure, but Wolfsburg were also dangerous with long balls and counter-attacks, especially in the second half.”
Dortmund playmaker Mario Gotze always felt his side could prise open Wolfsburg at some point, having failed to score only once in their last 33 league games at Signal Iduna Park.
Gotze said: “Of course we always believed that we could score a goal here at home.
“It was a very difficult game. It’s important to know that we can be dangerous to the last minute.”
Goalkeeper Roman Burki added: “I am very happy for Paco today. Today he scored two very important goals.
“That’s a nice feeling, the weekend could not go better.”
Wolfsburg coach Bruno Labbadia said the defeat was “extremely bitter” given his team’s performance against the title hopefuls.
The result leaves Wolfsburg in eighth place, five points off the top four.
Labbadia told vfl-wolfsburg.de: “My team did very, very well against strong opposition.
“To then lose the game in such a way is extremely harsh and I feel particularly sorry for our players, who did a great job today.
“It’s an extremely bitter defeat.”
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