He gave up the captaincy before the season, but Sebastian Kehl remains an important player in BVB’s squad. On Wednesday, he gritted his teeth and played against Wolfsburg despite carrying a rib injury.

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Have Borussia Dortmund gained a point against Wolfsburg or dropped two?

If you play like we did and then concede an equaliser, you can’t be thrilled. We needed the three points. But we also have to be realistic because Wolfsburg are a very strong side who deservedly sit in second. That puts the result into perspective. We gave our all, but not everything ran smoothly. In some way, we have to be happy with the point.

Both Wolfsburg goals came from set pieces and both were unlucky. The first goal, two Wolfsburg players forced their way in the wall and ducked their heads; the second goal, Naldo had a free header from a corner.

There’s a lot of pushing and pulling going on ahead of a free-kick, and so there must have been a gap in the wall. It was a disappointing goal to concede. At the second goal, I got pushed away and Naldo had a free header. But Wolfsburg also created some chances from open play and we defended with passion. It’s really a shame that we conceded the equaliser in the way we did, but we also have to acknowledge that Wolfburg in some way deserved the point.

On the other hand, BVB carved out more chances and had 17 goal attempts to Wolfsburg’s 10. Jürgen Klopp said: “We are still alive.” Just how good were BVB tonight? 

We created some great chances and our pressing was also very good at times. It was good to see that we were able to create some chances from transition play, something we barely did in the last weeks. And I also think that we were solid in defence and had Wolfsburg under control for most of the match. It still hurts a bit that we were restricted to a point as we would have liked three points today to improve our position in the table. But we can also take a lot of positives from the game, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now. We will analyse it tomorrow and then try to pick up three points in Bremen.

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Speaking of feeling, how’s the injured rib?

Not so good. I had to take pain meds all day and received shots. In a situation like this, you do everything, even if not everything goes according to plan. I don’t blame myself, I gave everything, pushed myself to the limit, also in terms of health, and I just hope that we will be able to turn the corner.