Julian Weigl kicked off his interview with BVBtotal! by apologising to his team-mates for the error he committed at the beginning of the second period against Rasenballsport Leipzig. He subsequently declared the Black & Yellows needed to accept that the visitors had been the better team, though he added: "We weren't bad in every department. Our fighting spirit and morale in particular were spot on."

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Julian, you've suffered your first defeat of the season, meaning the incredible unbeaten home run has now ended. Just how disappointed are you?
"Very, very much so, of course. I'd like to start by apologising to my team-mates for the mistake I made directly after coming on. That was a bit of a killer blow for us because we had a man sent off almost immediately afterwards and went 3-1 down from the ensuing penalty. I'd been hoping to bring in some new energy, but then that first involvement went wrong. I'd obviously envisaged things going differently. Nonetheless, we threw absolutely everything forward, battled, deservedly pulled a goal back and almost levelled the score at 3-3. But all in all, we're disappointed, particularly because we've made our stadium something of a fortress in recent times. That was the first home loss since I've been in Dortmund. It's a real shame and we're sorry for the fans.

You had chances but there weren't as many as usual. You weren't able to exert your dominance. Were they the strongest opponents you've faced this season?
"They certainly made things very difficult for us. They played a very good pressing game, meaning we often had to play long balls in the first half. They were highly dangerous from second balls and they frequently had possession in our half. We moved the ball around at the back until they pressed us. We weren't able to find the right solutions, even in the second period at times. That's why we have to acknowledge that Leipzig were the better team today."

"Need to take our chances in the big matches"

What can you learn from this defeat?
"That's something we need to look at closely. I think the crux of the matter was the second balls, which Leipzig won the majority of. Even when we had the ball, we couldn't find solutions. We need to do a lot of analysis, but we can't completely bury our heads in the sand right now. We go again on Tuesday. We didn't do badly in every department and gave it everything we had after the break, showing our fighting spirit and morale. All told, we didn't take our chances, though we had fewer than usual. Sometimes in such big times you need to make the most of the few chances that come your way." (djg)