Borussia Dortmund attacker Shinji Kagawa has blasted his side for lacking belief in the Champions League...
Having been dumped out of the Champions League on Tuesday, Borussia Dortmund midfielder, Shinji Kagawa has accused his side of lacking belief during the Champions League campaign.
Speaking further, he also predicted a tough Bundesliga season ahead for the Borussians should they fail to gather themselves quickly from Tuesday’s loss.
Dortmund played hosts to Olympique Marseille on Tuesday, December 6, at Signal Iduna Park. Needing a four-goal advantage to progress through to the next round, the Borussians suffered a 3-2 loss at home despite being 2-0 up inside the opening 32 minutes.
Jakub Blaszczykowski and Mats Hummels registered their names on the score sheet but weren’t able to lead their side into the next round.
Kagawa, who started the game on the bench, reckoned that his side made an outstanding start to the game and two goals inside the first half raised hopes amongst the hopeful Dortmund fans.
The Japanese added that the Borussians lacked flare in the second half as has been the case throughout, which is probably the reason for their downfall. He opined that his team lacked belief throughout the competition and didn’t express themselves properly
as they had been doing in the Bundesliga.
While talking to media after the game, the attacker further mentioned:
"We absolutely had to win on the road. With Arsenal and Olympiacos it was like that... it became a situation where we had to find goals. We fell apart in the second half a lot. In the Champions League you need a certain level of perseverance, strength, dedication
to scoring over 90 minutes... and we weren't at that level. Maybe we didn't have enough faith in ourselves."
"We [Dortmund] play strongly as a team, but their players had a little something extra, and we needed that "plus-alpha" tonight." He concluded.
However, Kagawa assured of a quick comeback when the Borussians return to action against FC Kaiserslautern in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Dortmund finished bottom of their Champions League group with four points from six games. The Black Yellows find themselves second in the Bundesliga, one point adrift of the current leaders, Bayern Munich.
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