Marco Rose pleased with solid Borussia Dortmund performance against Sporting CP

Borussia Dortmund were far from their spectacular best against Sporting CP. But Marco Rose was pleased with his team’s solid performance and the clean sheet.

Borussia Dortmund maintained their perfect start to their UEFA Champions League campaign on Tuesday evening as they registered a 1-0 win over Portuguese side Sporting CP. It wasn’t the most enthralling of performances, but the Black and Yellows got the job done quite comfortably in the end. Marco Rose was pleased with the result and even more so with his team’s counter pressing.

"“We made too many simple mistakes. But I think our gegenpressing was excellent and we worked really well against the ball. We certainly didn’t shine and we weren’t spectacular, but it was a solid performance.”"

Borussia Dortmund also managed to keep their first clean sheet since their win over SV Wehen Wiesbaden in the first round of the DFB Pokal last month. And Rose said that it was important for them to finally keep a clean sheet after conceding a lot of goals in the last few games.

"“We also managed to keep a clean sheet for the first time since Wiesbaden. That’s important for us. It’s the Champions League, Sporting aren’t in it for nothing. We dug in and worked hard for each other. The boys did a solid job.”"

Borussia Dortmund were missing a number of key players against Sporting CP, including Erling Haaland, Gio Reyna and Emre Can. And they suffered another big blow just two minutes into the game when Mahmoud Dahoud was forced to go off with a knee injury.

Mats Hummels was pleased that the Borussia Dortmund players embraced the hard work and managed to grind out the win against Sporting CP despite not being at their best.

"“Not everything was perfect, we made some mistakes. But the attitude was right. We gave it everything we had, and if you do that you can sometimes get a 1-0 win even if you don’t shine.”"

Borussia Dortmund go up against FC Augsburg in the Bundesliga this weekend. And a win on Saturday would go a long way in helping BVB get some momentum back on their side going into the international break.