Five Black & Yellows – Lucien Favre, Marco Reus, Paco Alcácer, Roman Bürki and Thomas Delaney – gave their reactions after the 2-1 win over SV Werder Bremen.

Lucien Favre: "It was a very difficult match for us. We went 2-0 up fairly early on and absolutely shouldn't have conceded the goal that made it 2-1. That was the problem. We thought: 2-1, we need to be careful. That's what subsequently made it difficult for us. Bremen played very well and had more men in midfield. That was difficult for us to defend. We need to make progress and corrections in that respect. It was too easy for Bremen to find the gaps and to create danger. Sometimes it just comes down to details. Bremen had too much possession. We weren't great in that respect tonight. Nonetheless, we had lots of clear opportunities and should've made it 3-1."

Roman Bürki: "We still have two important games left before the winter break and want to keep up the consistency we have shown so far until the end of the first half of the season. We have superb players, a superb team – everything is just right at the moment. We need to continue like this. We're enjoying the moment, but we also know that it can turn quickly. We need to do everything in our power to stay at the top."

Paco Alcácer: "When we win, it's always a perfect evening. It was the result of hard work. We're really investing a lot, the coach prepares us well – and so that's why it's all going well. Just yesterday we were practicing this type of free-kick in training, and it worked very well."

Marco Reus: "It's all about the collective. If it goes like it did today, that's super. Nonetheless, we didn't put in a good performance in the second half. We should've gone 3-1 up early, then we wouldn't have been doing so much chasing."

Thomas Delaney: "Being winter champions means nothing to us, but the lead does. We're very satisfied with that. We had that 15-minute spell in the first half in which we played very well. We can defend when things aren't going so well. The passing game in the second half wasn't perfect. We lost possession a lot of times and nonetheless we still looked solid at the back. That's also important. We want to continue as we have been and ideally we'll pick up six more points before the winter break. Our motto is: control the game and score one goal more than the opposition." (jl)