Tuchel and Dortmund not looking at league table

Borussia Dortmund closed the gap on Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich after seeing off Werder Bremen but coach Thomas Tuchel insisted the title hopefuls are only “focusing on ourselves”.

Dortmund moved to within five points of the Bundesliga holders thanks to a 3-1 victory over Bremen on Saturday.

Tuchel and Co. have won three league matches in succession to keep pace with Bayern, who dropped points for the first time this season when they drew 0-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday, but the Dortmund boss is remaining grounded.

“When we look at the table, we only look at ourselves,” Tuchel said via Dortmund’s official website.

“The signals that I am getting from the team are that we are capable of focusing on ourselves and ourselves alone.

“We need to keep going – we haven’t won anything yet.”

Marcos Reus was the star of the show at the Westfalenstadion, with his brace inspiring Dortmund.

The Germany international opened the scoring in the ninth minute and sealed the points 18 minutes from time, after Henrikh Mkhitaryan restored Dortmund’s first-half lead following Anthony Uhaj’s equaliser.

“In the first half we had a few difficulties and were not able to stop all of Bremen’s counter-attacks early on. Taking a 2-1 lead in at the break was definitely a bit lucky,” Tuchel added.

“However, I’m extremely happy with the second 45 minutes. We never lost our concentration and created gilt-edged chances to score time and time again. I am very, very satisfied. I’d like to pay a huge compliment to my team.”

On Reus’ performance in particular, Tuchel said: “He has always shown how hard-working he is – even in phases where things have not gone so well.

“Marco has always radiated self-confidence because he knows what he can do. The fact things are going so well now is a great feeling for all of us.”