Nuri Sahin pleased with patience shown by Borussia Dortmund in win over St. Pauli

Nuri Sahin was pleased with the patient approach Borussia Dortmund took to break down the resilient St. Pauli defence in their 2-1 win on Friday evening.

Borussia Dortmund enjoyed a return to winning ways on Friday as they dispatched St. Pauli 2-1, with Serhou Guirassy scoring a late winner. The Black and Yellows had the better chances and were good value for the win. But the newly promoted St. Pauli had a few chances of their own, and came close to pulling off an upset.

Ultimately, goals from Ramy Bensebaini and Guirassy secured the three points for Borussia Dortmund. And Nuri Sahin praised the way his side remained calm despite having to go up against a well drilled St. Pauli defence.

"In my opinion we did well, stayed calm, switched the game and hit crosses. Pascal Groß had an issue. After his substitution, we didn't find any structure in the first 15 minutes of the second-half. Then we were punished by conceding an incredible goal that was clearly offside. It's good that we were able to come back after that. A great coach once said: If it's 0-0 in the 60th minute against such a deep-lying opponent, you take it. They get tired after that."

Despite the win, Sahin also saw some room for improvement. The BVB head coach wasn't too pleased with the way his side defended at times, especially late on when Adam Dzwigala missed a golden opportunity to make it 2-2 for St. Pauli. "The way we defended there really annoyed me. Scenes like that make the difference between us being here with eleven or 13 points. We've already conceded goals like that against Celtic and Union. That's not acceptable. We have to do better," Sahin told DAZN.

A gruelling run of matches awaits Borussia Dortmund in the coming weeks, and next up is a trip to the Santiago Bernabéu to take on Real Madrid in a rematch of last year's UEFA Champions League final.