Borussia Dortmund have gone a total of seven games unbeaten, and have won all of their previous four fixtures. Turning a blind eye to the loss in the cup against Bayern just before Christmas, Peter Stöger has set a new club record by going eight Bundesliga games without defeat since assuming the position of manager. There are many things to suggest right now that the Black & Yellows can head to the North of Italy full of confidence, with the aim of reaching the UEFA Europa League round of 16 there on Thursday. 

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The close 1-0 win in Mönchengladbach was certainly a little bit lucky at the end of the day, and the team owed their gratitude to Roman Bürki for a number of world class saves that got them over the line with their slender lead. Nonetheless, the match in Gladbach demonstrated that under Peter Stöger, BVB have once again grown together to form a unit full of confidence, and in which everyone goes the extra mile for his teammates. Borussia failed to emerge victorious in many of the closely contested fixtures towards the end of last year. That little bit of luck required to turn things in BVB's favour was missing against Schalke, Stuttgart, Bremen, Hannover, Frankfurt, and Leipzig. That has now finally changed under Peter Stöger.   

>>> Match report: Reus does excellently to deliver victory in Gladbach

Borussia had already shown strength of will against Cologne, Hamburg and Bergamo to score the decisive goal at the end of each game. In Gladbach, Peter Stöger's team displayed completely different qualities on the day. "It was difficult to play football on this pitch", said Roman Bürki, who was ultimately able to secure victory with a number of fine saves. Both teams fell back primarily on grit and spirit playing on an execrable surface in the Borussia Park. After proceedings had been concluded, the Westphalia men departed the pitch victorious, even though Gladbach "were actually the much better team with the better chances in the second half", as winning goalscorer Marco Reus so neatly put it.

Good collaboration between Götze, Schürrle and Reus

In the end, the game was won "thanks to an exceptional goal and a very good goalkeeper who got us through to the final whistle", said Peter Stöger. Nevertheless, the manager was of course not entirely satisfied, especially with regard to the second passage of play. "I would have liked to see us offer more resistance then. We were lacking the required tools to play our way out of tight situations", according to Stöger. This was also due in part to the "pitch", which wasn't really worth the name. What was even more impressive was the collaboration between Mario Götze, André Schürrle and Marco Reus, something which ultimately led to the winning goal. It is hard to believe that the three offensive experts had only once played 25 minutes together for BVB prior to the Gladbach game. "This was the first time we were able to remain on the pitch together for a longer period of time, and we are really pleased about that", said Marco Reus. "I think we did really well, even though there is still room for improvement."

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Marco Reus brings up 1-0 with this shot against Mönchengladbach.

>>> The Facts: Stöger Writes BVB History

The three men will have the opportunity to play together again as soon as Thursday, when the team go up against Atalanta Bergamo with the aim of progressing to the next round of the UEFA Europa League. Thanks to the positive results achieved in recent weeks, and the knowledge that they are again able to keep the upper hand even in tight games and difficult situations, Borussia Dortmund can travel to Italy with their tails up. "We can go into an important game against Bergamo with a lot of confidence", said Roman Bürki. It certainly won't be easy there, but Borussia seem to be well-equipped to deal with difficult tasks.  
Dennis-Julian Gottschlich