Schurrle excited to finally link up with Reus and Gotze

Andre Schurrle hopes Sunday’s 1-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach can signal the beginning of a sustained run in the Borussia Dortmund team for the attacking trident he formed with Marco Reus and Mario Gotze.

Schurrle provided the assist for fit-again team-mate Reus to score the only goal against his former side at Borussia-Park, as the Germany international trio finally started a Bundesliga match together for the first time.

Both Reus, who suffered a torn cruciate knee ligament in May, and Gotze have battled regular fitness and health problems in recent seasons, and Schurrle acknowledged their impatience to finally link up together for the club.

“It feels amazing and we produced a goal – Mario played it to me, I played it to Marco and he scored, so it’s amazing,” he said.

“It’s a good feeling. We are very good friends and we’ve wanted this for a long time. 

“Now it’s finally there and now we have to get healthy and then play together like we used to.”

A goal symbolic of a wonderful friendship #GötzeSchürrleReus #BMGBVB 0-1 pic.twitter.com/nicLNNWWib

— Bundesliga English (@Bundesliga_EN) February 18, 2018

Speaking to Sky, Reus conceded his stunning goal, which looped over Yann Sommer and went in off the underside of the crossbar, had not quite been his intention after Schurrle found him just inside the penalty area.

“For the goal, I did not hit the ball properly,” he said.

“I actually wanted to shoot further to the left, if I’m completely honest. It’s nice, of course, that it went in anyway.

“Overall, it was a tough game. Especially in the second half, Gladbach were clearly better, they also had the bigger chances. 

“It was then a pure [scrap], luckily with the better ending for us. We still have a lot of work to do. 

“Nevertheless, these victories are extremely important right now, so that we can improve.”

While the selection of Reus, Schurrle and Gotze together caught the eye before kick-off, it was the heroics of goalkeeper Roman Burki that ensured Dortmund secured all three points to climb to second on the table.

“It hurts everywhere, which shows what a hard-fought victory it was,” Burki said.

“But that’s part of it. It was hard, playing in this place. To be honest, I’ve never experienced such a pitch, it was extremely hard to play on,” he added, referring to a poor quality surface at Borussia-Park. 

“That’s why we had to go for long balls a lot. In the first half we won some of the second balls and then after the break barely any.” 

“Mir tut es überall weh, das zeigt was für ein Arbeitssieg es war“, sagte @RBuerki1 bei @SkySportDE nach dem Sieg in Gladbach, den er mit zahlreichen starken Paraden festhielt. Die ersten Stimmen und Reaktionen nach #bmgbvb https://t.co/THCcLfxTaK pic.twitter.com/ceSv2na9K6

— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) February 18, 2018

Of his own form, which has been inconsistent this term, Burki said: “I am training day by day, trying to improve myself. I know that everything does not always succeed. I can handle that. 

“Today I am glad that everything worked out. These are very important three points.

“Now we can go with confidence into the important match against [Atalanta],” he added, looking to the second leg of the Europa League round-of-32 tie against Serie A opposition. Dortmund won the first leg 3-2 on Thursday.