Marco Rose laments poor body language of the Borussia Dortmund players in defeat to Ajax

Marco Rose wasn’t happy with the body language of the Borussia Dortmund players during their 4-0 defeat to Ajax on Tuesday evening. 

Borussia Dortmund suffered their heaviest ever defeat in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, as they were beaten 4-0 by Dutch giants Ajax. Two goals either side of half time helped Ajax earn a dominant win over the Black and Yellows at the Johan Cruijff ArenA. And Marco Rose was critical of the body language his players displayed during the game.

"“It was clear that Ajax would play well and have opportunities,” Rose told Amazon Prime after the game. “With what seemed like the second or third shot it was 2-0 and it felt more like we were losing by four goals. Our body language was as if we were out of the game. After the second goal, it was a question of conviction. We have to work on that.”“In the final third, we gave the ball away far too easily and didn’t use enough movement to get into the crucial spaces. We made too many mistakes, too many basic mistakes.”"

Borussia Dortmund were second best right from the start on Tuesday, and fell behind early on thanks to an own goal from Marco Reus. Daley Blind then doubled Ajax’s lead, before second half goals from Antony and Sebastien Haller sealed an emphatic win for Erik ten Hag’s side. The result could have been even worse for Dortmund had Gregor Kobel not made some excellent saves over the course of the 90 minutes.

Despite the result, Marco Rose defended the Borussia Dortmund players and said that they have the character to bounce back.

"“My team has character, they are great guys. When things get difficult, you have to find solutions and make it work. We have to keep going and show that we are still Borussia Dortmund.”"

Borussia Dortmund are still second in their UEFA Champions League group, three points behind Ajax with three games to go in the group stage. The two sides will meet again in two weeks’ time at the Signal Iduna Park. And Marco Rose will certainly be hoping for a much improved performance from his players in that game.

But Borussia Dortmund still have three matches to come before that, starting with a tough away game against Arminia Bielefeld in the Bundesliga this weekend.