Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchelbelieves his team got exactly what they deserved after losing 2-1 away at bottom club SV Darmstadt 98 on Saturday. Dortmund had been hoping to keep the pressure on thetop-two sides above them in the Budesliga.
Tuchel's side was admittedly hampered by injuries, but it was probably the manner of the defeat which was the most cause for concern. Dortmund struggled right from the start against a side whose performance belied their lowly league position.
Speaking via Yahoo,Tuchel was scathing in his assessment to reporters: "It was a deserved victory for them if we play so far below our limit, it is normal to lose the game."
The hosts had deservedly gone 1-0 up in a very entertaining first-half. Raphael Guerreiro equalised for Dortmund with a shot from the edge of the penalty area, beforeAntonio Colak scored the decisive goal in a game that Darmstadt thoroughly deserved to win. Indeed Colak could have scored a second goal had his second-half effort not hit the crossbar.
The German coach went on to say: "It makes sense that a team which plays to it's full potential wins. we were deserved losers today."
The 43 year-old concluded by stating: "I never had a feeling today that we ever really got into the game."
To compound Borussia Dortmund's misery, second-placed RP Leipzig lost 3-0 at home to SV Hamburg. For Darmstadt it was a first win since October in the league and the first one for new coach Torsten Frings, who was appointed to the struggling club in December.
Tuchel will be hoping for a quick turnaround in form and confidence before they go into their last-16 clash,in the Champions League on Tuesday night,when Dortmund will travel to Benfica hoping to secure a positive 1st-leg result to bring back to Germany.