Borussia Dortmund slipped to the bottom of the Bundesliga after the 0-0 draw at Leverkusen, but the result was seen by both sides as good result. “We can live with it,” BVB’s winter signing Kevin Kampl told Sky. For Nurin Sahin it was, despite a high count of bad passes (56 percent), “a step forward.”

Kevin Kampl: “We can live with the result. It was a very tough game for us. We knew that Bayer would play an extreme pressing game and that we would need to fight hard. It was a good start to the second half of the season. On Wednesday against Augsburg I’m sure we’ll be able to create a little bit more than we did today. It was a hard-running game for us, and it was also a very hard-fought game in which the football was a little lacking. What we need above all at the moment is to gain points and we did that. It’s good to have a run of games coming up now, and on Wednesday we will play a bit better.

Nuri Sahin: “This was a step forward, even if three points would have been better. There was stability, and we pressed the ball very well. After all, Leverkusen are no Mickey Mouse outfit but a side that are in the last 16 of the Champions League. It was important that we didn’t fall behind. Both sides had chances to take the lead. It was clear this game wouldn’t be a treat to the eyes. We had a plan in Leverkusen, and we worked to it.”

Matthias Ginter: “Our goal was to win this game. We didn’t manage to do that, but at least we got a point. It was an evenly balanced affair for most of the match. The result is okay. Leverkusen didn’t have any clear-cut chances as we defended well. We have to continue working and try to be a bit more clinical up front. But we can build on our defensive performance.”

Jürgen Klopp: “It was a very intense game. For its intensity, it was a very fair game. We did not lose our nerve and showed that we had worked a bit during the winter break. I’m happy with it. Playing good football was not the order of the day. Had we been calmer in one or two situations, we could have created more good chances.”

Stefan Kiessling (Bayer 04): “We didn’t create many chances despite moving the ball around well. Dortmund only resorted to long balls, but our defence coped well with it. We didn’t allow them much.”