Favre upbeat despite Dortmund exit

Borussia Dortmund head coach Lucien Favre insisted he would take plenty of positives despite his team’s Champions League exit at the hands of Tottenham.

Harry Kane’s goal lifted Spurs to a 1-0 win in the second leg at Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday, the Premier League side winning the last-16 tie 4-0 on aggregate.

Despite the result, Favre said there was plenty to like from Dortmund, who have won just one of their past eight matches in all competitions.

“All in all, it was a very good match. There were a lot of positives in the first half,” he said.

“We might’ve lost 1-0 but the chance to qualify for the next round was lost in the first leg rather than the home fixture. I’ll take a lot of positives.

“For me, there was only one team out there in the first half. We need to continue playing like that.”

FULL TIME | The end of our European journey.#BVBTHFC 0-1 pic.twitter.com/IiOtUCy2uB

— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) March 5, 2019

Dortmund had 19 shots against Tottenham, including seven on target, but were unable to find the breakthrough they needed.

Favre rued their failure to make the most of their opportunities, particularly in the first half.

“We showed a very good first-half performance with six goalscoring chances. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a goal,” he said.

“We wanted to continue in that vein but then conceded a goal after three or four minutes in the second half and knew that it would then be very difficult as we needed five goals.”