Kampl: 'We’ve taken an important first step'
Leverkusen - It may have been a tentative first step towards survival for Borussia Dortmund, but as Bundesliga debutant highlighted post-match, each and every point is vital at the bottom of the league. Indeed, it was a disciplined and error-free defensive display against Bayer 04 Leverkusen in Matchday 18’s showpiece Saturday fixture which ended in a stalemate.
Although Jürgen Klopp’s men sit bottom of the league going into the midweek melee that is Matchday 19, the noticeable improvements in their game ensured that Slovenian international Kampl focused entirely on the positives after an assured Bundesliga bow.
Question:
Kevin Kampl, how happy are you with the goalless draw in Leverkusen?
Kevin Kampl:
In our current situation, we can be happy with the result. We stepped up to the plate in the knowledge that Leverkusen were able to play more freely than we could. It was obvious that they’d press extremely well and that it wouldn’t be a pure footballing spectacle. It was a game with lots of long balls and developed into a
to win the second ball. For that reason alone, there weren’t many chances. For us, however, the point is really important; we have to keep collecting points. Fortunately, we have a home game
[on Wednesday], which gives us the chance to do that immediately. We're leaving Leverkusen with the feeling that the draw was a step in the right direction.
Question:
How did you feel it went personally on your first game in the German Bundesliga?
Kampl:
It was really nice, especially playing here in Leverkusen where I featured in the youth sides. I met lots of old friends and recognised lots of old faces. I was only 13 years old when I was here, but you don’t forget that. It was a nice experience, but I’m really pleased that I’m now playing for Dortmund. We have 16 games left in which we need to pick up as many points as possible so we can move away from the bottom quickly.
Question:
As a team, you had been working towards this game for three weeks. What was the atmosphere like pre-match given the current predicament?
Kampl:
The atmosphere was good. You do notice the pressure from outside, but we tried to use that to our advantage. I think that you could see that we fought for each other on the field, even if not everything we tried to implement came off successfully. We knew beforehand that would be the case which was why we had to ensure we didn’t lose. We did that well. Now we have to tick this one off and focus on Wednesday.
are a difficult side so I hope that we play a little bit better.
Question:
Despite the point, Dortmund are still
. What impact does that have?
Kampl:
We shouldn’t really look at the table too much, it can change very quickly. The games are coming thick and fast now which is a good thing. It means we can start picking up points. We’re in good condition and as I said earlier, I think we’ve taken an important first step. I hope now that we can find the back of the net against Augsburg on Wednesday. Tobias Gonscherowski reporting from Leverkusen
