Karim Bellarabi was being watched by Germany national team head coach Joachim Löw and Thomas Schneider in the goalless draw of his Leverkusen side to Borussia Dortmund in the headline Bundesliga game on Saturday and was involved in one of the best plays of the game. World Cup winner Mats Hummels had to clear a cross from the Germany international with a diving header after Roman Weidenfeller was already beaten. Just 60 seconds later, the BVB keeper has to tip over a looped shot from Bellarabi over the bar. DFB.de caught up with Bellarabi after the 0-0 draw to Dortmund.
DFB.de: Mr Bellarabi, just a provocative question: Just a point against second-bottom – how content are you with the opening fixture after the winter break?
Karim Bellarabi: Yeah, we wanted to take all three points today, of course. But Dortmund played well. It was a tough game. We had few, but still good chances. When you don’t take them then a 0-0 is alright. Dortmund did their job well.
DFB.de: Did you expect BVB to be that defensive?
Bellarabi: Indeed, Dortmund dealt with lots of long balls. We didn’t think though that they’d be pressing us 100%. But still, for the situation that they’re in, they did it well. What do you expect other than that.
DFB.de: Did the opponent’s approach make it really difficult for you? It’s not the first time really that you’ve failed to produce chances in a home game.
Bellarabi: We wanted to play the ball in the final third, of course – but it was pretty tight against this Dortmund side. They sealed it off well at the back. We have to now break the game down, work on it and then go again in Berlin.
DFB.de: You’ve already touched upon it – You travel to Hertha BSC Berlin as early as Wednesday and then take on Werder Bremen on Sunday. Those are two crucial away matches. You need to win both at all costs if you’re to stay up at the top.
Karim Bellarabi was being watched by Germany national team head coach Joachim Löw and Thomas Schneider in the goalless draw of his Leverkusen side to Borussia Dortmund in the headline Bundesliga game on Saturday and was involved in one of the best plays of the game. World Cup winner Mats Hummels had to clear a cross from the Germany international with a diving header after Roman Weidenfeller was already beaten. Just 60 seconds later, the BVB keeper has to tip over a looped shot from Bellarabi over the bar. DFB.de caught up with Bellarabi after the 0-0 draw to Dortmund.
DFB.de: Mr Bellarabi, just a provocative question: Just a point against second-bottom – how content are you with the opening fixture after the winter break?
Karim Bellarabi: Yeah, we wanted to take all three points today, of course. But Dortmund played well. It was a tough game. We had few, but still good chances. When you don’t take them then a 0-0 is alright. Dortmund did their job well.
DFB.de: Did you expect BVB to be that defensive?
Bellarabi: Indeed, Dortmund dealt with lots of long balls. We didn’t think though that they’d be pressing us 100%. But still, for the situation that they’re in, they did it well. What do you expect other than that.
DFB.de: Did the opponent’s approach make it really difficult for you? It’s not the first time really that you’ve failed to produce chances in a home game.
Bellarabi: We wanted to play the ball in the final third, of course – but it was pretty tight against this Dortmund side. They sealed it off well at the back. We have to now break the game down, work on it and then go again in Berlin.
DFB.de: You’ve already touched upon it – You travel to Hertha BSC Berlin as early as Wednesday and then take on Werder Bremen on Sunday. Those are two crucial away matches. You need to win both at all costs if you’re to stay up at the top.
Bellarabi: That’s what we want to do. We want to win all of our next games now after that draw. But that’s nothing new. We always want to win.
DFB.de: Wolfsburg won this weekend. Not just against some team, but a 4-1 victory against Bayern München. Did they impress you?
Bellarabi: Wolfsburg obviously played really well. But we’re not too worried about that. We have our own schedule. And as I said, we’ll focus entirely and fully on our next game in Berlin.
DFB.de: What importance our Gladbach’s and Schalke’s win today, considering that they’re two of your rivals for the Champions League places?
Bellarabi: As i said, we’ll concentrate on our game. You saw that today that we had few but decent chances and didn’t take them. That happens time, that it ends in a draw after a game like that.
