Marco Reus has said his team “simply botched it” in a bitter derby loss to Schalke 04 on Sunday.
Reus, 28, told Sky after the game: “We wanted to win this game today because we could have leapfrogged Schalke. We simply botched it.”
Yevhen Konoplyanka broke the deadlock after 50 minutes in the Veltins Arena after Daniel Caligiuri had won the ball off team captain Marcel Schmelzer in the build-up to the goal.
Schalke centre-back Naldo doubled the lead for the final 2-0 scoreline in the 82nd minute with a powerful free kick from distance to open a four-point gap over their Ruhr rivals. BVB drop back to fourth place.
“It was very bitter that I made the mistake that led to the opening goal in this game of all games.
“I want to apologise to everyone who sympathises with the Black and Yellows. I’m also very sorry for the team. We only managed to create chances after we adjusted our tactic but then it was already too late.”
The left-back explained that it was Dortmund’s plan to trigger Schalke’s pressing by moving the ball to their full-backs. But he conceded that the idea turned out to be counterproductive.
“We knew that Schalke’s wing-backs would charge our full-backs very energetically on both sides,” he said. “It was our plan to take advantage of the spaces in behind.
“But either we didn’t make the right runs into that space or when the runs were there, we failed to deliver the passes. Overall, nothing really worked out for us today.”
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