Borussia Dortmund followed up their convincing 3-1 victory over AC Milan with an arduous display against VfL Bochum in which they twice struck late to rescue a 2-2 draw. "We could've conceded four or five," admitted coach Peter Bosz after the final whistle, adding: "We need to analyse what we did wrong today."

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Sehr präsent: Mario Götze

Bochum would have opened up a five-goal lead if it hadn't been for sensational saves from shot-stoppers Dominik Reimann (two) and Roman Bürki (one). Such a scoreline would hardly have been a fair reflection of the balance of play – which was dominated by BVB, even if only Mario Götze offered any creativity going forward – but it probably wouldn't have been unfair given the shot and chance counts.

"We were lacking tempo because we were a bit tired," said Roman Bürki, who continued: "Bochum made it difficult for us to build the play neatly. Particularly in the first period, you could see that not every player was playing in his actual position."

Bosz also hinted that the many changes to the side could have been a contributory factor as to why the Black and Yellows often looked exposed at the back. "Today we had a lot of players playing who don't have very many minutes under their belts," explained the coach. "But we learn from these games too."

Much as it was in the 3-2 victory over Urawa Red Diamonds, the Black & Yellows' performance in the Ruhrstadion was characterised by endurance and the desire to give it their all following two hard weeks of training, even in the closing stages. Gonzalo Castro and Christian scored within 60 seconds of each other to level the scores and, with a shot count of 8-7 in Bochum's favour, a 2-2 draw seemed like a fair result.

"We took another step forward today"

"We took another step forward today," declared shot-stopper Bürki. That goes for both the team as a whole and Mario Götze in particular. The 25-year-old midfielder was making his first start following injury, having previously made two 30-minute appearances during pre-season so far. "I'm happy that he got through this 45 minutes unscathed," explained Bosz. "We will continue to manage his return carefully."

The club's next two friendlies will come during their upcoming training camp in Bad Ragaz. The Black & Yellows will face Spanish outfit Espanyol on Friday 28 July, before taking on Italians Atalanta on Tuesday 1 August.

Boris Rupert

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