Kovac: "We still have a fair few points to pick up!" | OneFootball

"After Dortmund's first goal, it turned into a cup game. As a fan, I would have bought a ticket for this," said Bayern Munich's head coach Vincent Kompany after the absorbing clash between two of Germany's biggest sides. The match was broadcast in more than 200 countries and should serve as an excellent advertisement for German football. Even if it was not a top of the table clash for the first time in ten years, Bayern Munich versus Borussia Dortmund is still the benchmark of German football. And there was plenty for those of a Black & Yellow persuasion to take away from the game: if they defend as a unit and play forward-looking football with bravery, they can keep up and compete at the very top level.

"It is not always possible to defend everything against Bayern Munich," Niko Kovac said at the press conference, referring to Munich's large number of shots on goal (26), rather than the two goals, which were both avoidable – especially the second, which drew particular ire from managing director Lars Ricken: "He was able to score a goal without having to contest a duel."

With a courageous front-line defence, BVB had kept Bayern away from their goal for a long time in the first half. "I wasn't satisfied our efforts on the ball," Kovac said about his side's own offensive efforts. The second half was almost a mirror image: Borussia Dortmund took the lead through Maxi Beier, and Konrad Laimer prevented Beier from making it 2-0. "When we played short passing and also went into the lead, Bayern saw they were facing a team who can play too," said Niklas Süle, adding: "That is the only way we can stand up to teams like them. We have the quality, we just need to show it on the pitch more often."

"Some chances here, some chances there," said Kovac in summary of the absorbing second half, which Kompany also enjoyed as a fan, "but not as a coach". Dortmund could have taken three points in the end, but Pascal Groß's lob in the final minute landed on top of the net. "I hope that we can build on this game and add to our little run against Gladbach and in the games that follow," Niko Kovac said, adding: "We still have a fair few points to pick up. And we want to take them all."

But first: Barcelona. Kovac said it would be a game full of intensity on Tuesday and is expecting a home win in front of a sold-out crowd. Whether the level of the desired success can then cross the threshold of a "miracle" is another story. The goal is to send the fans home satisfied. That game will be followed by four days of recovery and training days before the match against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Easter Sunday as BVB look to continue to catch their rivals on the domestic front.Boris Rupert