Nuri Sahin scored the crucial second goal for Borussia Dortmund against Schalke 04 at the Veltins Arena on Saturday. In a post-game interview, the 25-year-old declared himself very pleased. "It was my second goal in a derby, and these goals are something very special." For Sahin, it was BVB´s fighting spirit that saw them home. "We knew that we have the footballing quality to beat them if we ran and battled."

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Nuri Sahin celebrates his goal.

How do you feel as a derby winner when you contribute to the win by scoring a goal?
Very good! We played a good game, and that I was able to contribute to it with a fine goal makes it of course all the sweeter to me. I hadn´t scored for a while, and on Saturday everything fell into place when I released the shot. It was my second goal in a derby, and these goals are of course something very special.

Are you happy with how the game went?
There were some short periods after the goals where we sat back and Schalke came better into the game. That was totally unnecessary, but otherwise we played a really good game today.

What was the key to the win?
Battling is part of a derby and we were quite surprised when the coach showed us how defensive the Schalke formation would be. We knew right then that it was going to be a real battle. We were prepared, and we fought back. We knew that we have the footballing quality to beat them if we ran and battled.

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Here is the goal: Sahin fires into the top right corner. [pictures: firo]

Three wins in seven days. Which one was the most important one?
The win over Arsenal was also very important as we want to go far in the Champions League this season. The Bundesliga is a different competition. A derby win is invaluable for us players, for the club and above all of course for the fans. A win over Schalke - it is much more than just three points.

What´s your say on the incidents before the game?
What some of the fans did before the game was wrong. I can´t understand how you could do something like that. Borussia Dortmund and the fans of Borussia Dortmund have a lot of supporters and admirers all over the world now. I´ve been all over Europe and met a lot of great footballers who are fans of Borussia Dortmund, also because of our great following. These incidents cast a bad light on the fans. You must not do that.