Mats Hummels (l) said that Dortmund "showed a different face" in their 5-0 win over Gladbach
Mats Hummels (l) said that Dortmund "showed a different face" in their 5-0 win over Gladbach

Hummels: "Shown a different face"

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Dortmund - A highly-satisfied Mats Hummels believes that Borussia Dortmund are back on track after their 5-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday, and that they can head to Manchester City in midweek with renewed confidence.

The Dortmund defender successfully mastered a difficult opening 20 minutes before leaving his more attack-minded team mates to break down The Foals and get the defending champions all three points at the end of a difficult week.

Question:, was this clear 5-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach just what you needed to respond to the rather weak performances against HSV and Frankfurt, in which Dortmund only managed one point and conceded six goals?

Mats Hummels: It was vitally important that we won and that we kept a clean sheet - and that we shook off a few insecurities. We still felt a bit of that during the opening stages of the game, but as soon as we scored, that gave us our old security. That was important because we really threw away five points in our last two games. We really should never have lost the game in Hamburg, and we shouldn't have let Frankfurt hit back at us on the counter attack. That is why the points in Gladbach now are so important because we simply could not lose any more ground in the league.

Question: What was better against Gladbach than in the previous two games?

Hummels: We were better organised. We were very compact and very disciplined, which are the foundations for us to be able to win. We all know that we have a lot of quality with the lads up front, and they came good for us once again.

Question: At half time, Dortmund were already 2-0 up - like in Frankfurt, when you threw the lead away. Was that an issue during the interval?

Hummels: The coach forced a smile when he touched on that during the break. Of course we did not want to repeat the same mistakes, and fortunately we didn't. We never let our opponents get back into the game. Had Gladbach pulled a goal back, then maybe they would have had the wind in their sails, but we resolutely prevented that.

Question: Did Marco Reus make the difference in this game, as a former Gladbach player?

Hummels: His goal to make it 1-0 definitely got us heading in the right direction. Before that, we were a bit insecure, like I said, and we still did not have the faith with which we usually play. After Marco's goal, we showed a different face again - we were assured on the ball, keen to run with it and, above all, we were commanding.

Question: How much self-confidence does this victory give you ahead of the Champions League on Wednesday, when you have to prove yourselves at Manchester City?

Hummels: A win like this certainly gives you more self-confidence for your next game. We have a really tough task to come with City, but we are all looking forward to it. Of course we are going to try and keep our discipline, but also to take some courage out of today's game.

Dietmar Nolte reporting from the Signal Iduna Park.