Dawn was breaking on the horizon as the team bus drove into the Brackel Training Centre at 5.30 in the morning CET before releasing the players into what remained of the night. The Black and Yellows were tired and critical of their performance during the course of the match, but also happy about progressing to the next round as they made their way home to bed.

Borussia Dortmund are in the round of 16 of a European competition for the sixth consecutive year (at least), and have matched the club's record set during the 1990s as a result, when, between 1993 and 1998, the Black and Yellows saw uninterrupted success in winning knock-out games on the European stage.

"We would have liked it to have been easier", admitted Mario Götze immediately after the fortunate 1-1 draw away at Atalanta Bergamo. "We didn't play a good game", said Marcel Schmelzer. Peter Stöger demanded the following from his team: "We need to be more pugnacious."

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Kitted out in an all yellow get up, the Borussia boys emerged with a black eye, having been unable to offer much resistance to the physicality of an opposition that played hard, but fair. "If we are unable to get the ball down and demonstrate our footballing quality, then it is important that we stand up and give it back a bit", criticised the manager, while also maintaining that nobody would be able to transform these technically gifted players into fighting machines.  

It took a mere ten minutes before the slight 3-2 advantage from the first leg had been wiped out. "To fall behind here was not what we had envisaged", opined Götze. On aggregate, the game now stood at 3-3, but of course the away-goals rule was applicable, giving the Italians the advantage. This allowed them to lie in wait, play more defensively and let Dortmund come, though they left them hardly any space to play through.

Schmelzer subsequently revealed that "we spoke at halftime about the fact that one goal would be enough, and that we could not afford to lose our heads, rather needed to bring the game under our control. We then managed to do that for the last 25 minutes of the match."

Borussia's successes this week are drenched in sweat. They were hard-fought. Mario Götze interprets Marcel Schmelzer's late goal in the 83' minute, rifled home after Bergamo's goalkeeper, Berisha, had failed to sufficiently clear a Marco Reus shot, as "a sign that our attitude is right, and that we are prepared to fight until the end." Peter Stöger too saw "an improvement in our game and in the resistance we offered during the second half."

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And so the team ultimately managed to avoid their impending ejection from the tournament, something not undeserved when the performances across both legs of the tie are taken into account, remaining unbeaten in their eighth match of 2018 as a consequence. "We know that we still need to improve our game both in defence and attack", said Götze: "That notwithstanding, the trend is upwards. We want to build on that."
Boris Rupert