In his Bundesliga debut three weeks ago in Paderborn, he was involved in two goals (one assist, one key pass in the build-up), and in his first start today in Leipzig, Mateu Morey had the second best duels won stats for BVB. He was showered with praise his teammates and the "boss".

"I'm very, very happy. But I'm also very tired," said the 20-year-old from Mallorca on Saturday night after the 2-0 away win in Leipzig, adding in a mixture of German and English: "I didn't play much for a long time, and you start to notice in the end."

Until he was brought off in the 78th minute, Morey had been charging up and down the right-hand side in Borussia Dortmund's 3-4-3 system, both offensively and defensively, and was just behind Mats Hummels (64%) in terms of duels won at 62%.

"I felt very good because my teammates have prepared me for this day and have always helped me. I was unlucky with my shoulder injury, but now I feel great. I am enjoying the playing time and am doing what I can," said Morey. National player Emre Can acknowledged Morey's good performance: "Mateu played a great game. He's a young player who always trains hard. He waited for his chance, and today it was his time. I would not have begrudged him that goal." In the 47th minute, he was played in by Erling Haaland and found himself free in front of Leipzig's keeper Peter Gulacsi being but hit his shot, perhaps a little hastily, just past the left post. "I could even have scored," Morey said with a hint of disappointment a little later, "but in the end, the three points are what count. It was a very difficult game today. Leipzig are a good team, but we did really well today."

Sporting director Michael Zorc was full of praise for the youngster: "He played a good game, was very good on the ball and kept putting his foot in and winning the ball. Defensively, he radiated stability and he could even have scored a goal."

The 20-year-old was happy as he walked to the bus, full of enthusiasm for the future. "I am very proud and I am delighted for the team that we have secured second place. We deserved the three points. For me, it's the first season here that we will finish in second place. Now we're going to work on getting first place next year."

Boris Rupert