Klopp proud of Dortmund desire

Borussia Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp was pleased with the 2-1 win over Stuttgart in an ‘intense’ Bundesliga match on Saturday.

Defender Lukasz Piszczek gave Dortmund the lead on 29 minutes against the run of play, before Stuttgart levelled through Romanian Alexandru Maxim.

A second yellow card to Stuttgart defender Georg Niedermeier with 21 minutes to play gave Dortmund the ascendancy though, and Polish forward Robert Lewandowski bagged a late winner.

“It was, as I told my team before, a very intense match,” Klopp said.

“We needed about 20 minutes to get used to the game. But we’ve got it right. From that moment on, we’d been in the game and created a lot of chances. Sure, Stuttgart had some chances at the beginning and (goalkeeper) Roman (Weidenfeller) did a great job.

“Then we scored the goal. In the second half we lost the (momentum). We had big chances, but VFB (Stuttgart) had maybe the biggest. They drew level but in the end we won, because we wanted to win.

“I think we’re not an undeserved winner. But it was a close game. After such a game, you feel great, because it was so much effort. So it is a nice day, but (defender) Marcel Schmelzer is in the hospital with a nasal bone fracture. But we hope to fix it.”

Dortmund, who are second in the Bundesliga, 20 points behind leaders Bayern Munich, will travel to Spain for their next match, a first leg UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Malaga.