Unsurprisingly, Peter Stöger, Marco Reus and Manuel Akanji were highly satisfied as they spoke to sky after the 4-0 win over Leverkusen. However, all three underlined the importance of carrying that level of performance into the final weeks of the season. "Nothing has been achieved yet but it was a very important victory," said Peter Stöger. "One match isn't enough to make up for the derby defeat," added Akanji.

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Peter Stöger: "Of course, it was an extremely important match against a direct rival. But we still have quite a bit to do. Leverkusen are still hot on our heels and have torn apart some of their recent opponents, while Hoffenheim are on very good form too. We're not so stable, which is why every three points we pick up represents an important step. That's precisely why the defeat last week was doubly frustrating. Nothing's been achieved yet but this victory was very important. It was a better performance by us. In terms of the running we put in it was okay, we worked well off the ball and showed the necessary physicality. You could see that it works if everyone contributes something in all areas. And today that finally worked out across the full 90 minutes."

Marco Reus: "We made a bright start, won the challenges, had good spatial distribution and played some good football too. It was important for us to take the lead, that gave us increased self-confidence. We kept it up thereafter. Of course, there was a bit of frustration surrounding the goal that was subsequently disallowed. There were real emotions there. The penalty I hit very weakly. But after that, too, we continued to play well and in the end I was still able to help the team. For it me it is still important to get into my rhythm, play the full 90 minutes and put in a performance."

Manuel Akanji: "We were aggressive from the start, won a lot of challenges. That gave us self-confidence, of course. And the early goal did us good as well. We didn't drop off thereafter, but instead kept going. In the second half the shots finally starting going in for us and we put in a very good defensive performance as a unit. It was a super reaction to last week, but one match is not enough to make up for the derby defeat. We need to continue exactly like that in our upcoming games. We all played brilliantly together as a team."

"It was important for me to say thank you"

Heiko Herrlich (Bayer Leverkusen coach): "Congratulations to BVB! The victory is more than deserved. We were not able to implement any of our plans. We were always a step too slow and gave away too much space to defend against BVB's quick play. Our attacking attempts were all defended very well. We deservedly lost."

Sven Bender (Bayer Leverkusen): "We deserved to lose. You need to perform differently to that to get into the Champions League. The willingness to invest everything was missing. Otherwise, you'll get a hiding like we did here. I have to say that it was difficult for me to go over to the BVB fans after the match. I've never gone over to the stands after a 4-0 defeat to be applauded. But it was simply important for me to say thank you. I've spent the longest and most important part of my career here in Dortmund. The reaction from the fans showed me that I didn't do everything wrong. It was really nice in front of the South Stand." (djg)

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