Klopp hails efficient Dortmund after qualification
DORTMUND (Reuters) - Borussia Dortmund's Juergen Klopp heaped praise on his team's scoring efficiency and timing in Tuesday's 4-1 victory over Galatasaray that sent them through to the Champions League knockout stage with two games to spare.
It was exactly what has been lacking from Dortmund for months in the Bundesliga, including during their 2-1 loss to Bayern Munich in the league as they dropped to 17th following their shocking start to the season.
But they earned some pride back by booking their fastest ticket to the next round of the competition with a scintillating performance in front of 65,000 fans on a rainy evening.
"The ability to score goals at the right time is something I would like to take with me today and conserve it for ever more," a beaming Klopp told reporters.
"We were very unhappy with our second half against Bayern but today I am very satisfied with our structure."
Dortmund were never really threatened by the Turks as they took a 2-0 lead with goals from Marco Reus and Sokratis Papastathopoulos either side of halftime.
When the visitors scored in the 70th, Dortmund struck back four minutes later through Ciro Immobile to kill off any chance of a comeback by the Turkish side. A late own goal by the visitors completed Dortmund's fourth straight Group D win.
"We defended extremely well against them and played overall even better than in Istanbul," he said referring to their 4-0 away win. "I have seen that the team was very resilient. Today, we can enjoy the victory."
For the 2013 Champions League runners-up and the 2011 and 2012 Bundesliga champions, Europe is a happy hunting ground this season but even goalscorer Reus could not really explain the reasons for their different form in Europe and in Germany.
"We always said that it is a bit easier in the Champions League because teams also play along and we have more space," he told reporters. "But that was not the case today. Galatasaray defended in numbers but we had our chances and we used them."
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Ken Ferris)
