Dortmund inconsistency ´hurts´ Klopp

Jurgen Klopp admitted Borussia Dortmund’s lack of consistency against Bayer Leverkusen left him “hurt” as they drew 2-2 on Saturday.

Dortmund have struggled to keep pace with Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich in the league this season and are 19 points behind in second place with just two games to play.

Saturday’s game saw Klopp’s men come from behind on two occasions to earn a point against the rejuvenated Leverkusen at the BayArena.

Klopp tried to take the positives out of the result but acknowledged their display, like many this season, was lacking quality.

“Let’s start with the most important thing,” said the head coach. “One point for Borussia Dortmund in Leverkusen still is and probably will be a good result for a very long time.

“We actually did what we planned to do, but unfortunately we weren’t consistent enough in the last third so we didn’t have a lot of chances to score.

“This means Leverkusen could have a lot of ball possession – maybe not too many chances – but long waves back to the defence. That hurts of course a little bit. The goals were unnecessary.

“Of course it was done well by Leverkusen but we could have done a better defensive job.”

After Lars Bender had opened the scoring, Dortmund equalised through Oliver Kirch’s first for the club, however they were only level for six minutes as Gonzalo Castro put the hosts back in front.

And although Marco Reus was able net Dortmund’s second before half-time from the penalty spot, Klopp was left disappointed they could not claim all three points after the break.

“The 2-1 (scoreline) was unnecessary,” he added. “We got a little confused about the possible off-side situation and didn’t get back fast enough, so Castro was standing all alone and could score.

“The second half was a little more open, we got impatient and weren’t too offensive anymore.

“It was still good, but not outstanding. If it had been outstanding we would have won the game, I guess.”