Dortmund proved their credentials by beating Leverkusen, say Kovac and Kehl
Niko Kovac and Sebastian Kehl both hailed Borussia Dortmund's determination after they edged out Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga.
Borussia Dortmund's 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen proved they have what it takes to compete with the Bundesliga's best away from home.
That was the view of both head coach Niko Kovac and sporting director Sebastian Kehl, after headers from Aaron Anselmino and Karim Adeyemi saw BVB leapfrog their hosts in the table.
Dortmund are already nine points adrift of runaway leaders Bayern Munich, who beat St. Pauli 3-1 on Saturday, but they are just a point behind second-placed RB Leipzig.
Leverkusen, Hoffenheim and Stuttgart are all within three points of Dortmund, whose 14 points from seven away games are the joint-most of any team in the Bundesliga (also Hoffenheim).
Dortmund only had half as many shots as Leverkusen (seven to 14), though they still won the expected goals (xG) battle, registering 0.99 to their hosts' 0.82.
They amassed 0.86 xG after half-time, prompting Kovac to hail their improvement in the second period.
"The bottom line is we deservedly won, even if we should have closed out the game earlier. We had huge chances to score the third goal," Kovac told Dortmund's website.
"It was a tough job, we knew that, and the team did really well from the very first minute. In the first half, we could have done a little better with our two strikers. We weren't aggressive enough for me.
"Then, in the second half, we upped it. Here at Leverkusen, you have to control the game so well. That's a compliment to us, I like that, and that's the kind of football we need.
"We have to win games, and we have done that today against a really good opponent. We defended very well, and I'm really proud of that."
Kehl, meanwhile, was delighted to see Dortmund prove their mettle after dropping points from a winning position in each of their last two games – draws with Hamburg and Stuttgart.
He said: "We played a really cool away game today, which we should have won earlier in the second half. The team have shown that they can survive here as well.
"We made a lot of plans for this game. The team implemented them really well, and after this, hopefully the talk that we cannot win against big teams this season will stop. We deservedly won."
Dortmund face a swift reunion with Leverkusen in the DFB-Pokal round of 16 on Tuesday, before hosting Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga next weekend.
