Borussia Dortmund forward Marco Reus says his side must improve their defending if they are to be successful in the Champions League this season, despite holding Real Madrid to a 2-2 draw on Wednesday.
The Westphalians came from two goals behind to snatch a point at the Bernabeu and seal top spot in Group F ahead of the defending champions.
Amid the euphoria of the result and strong performance by the Bundesliga side, Reus issued a warning that improvements are necessary, saying it is not enough to score goals and set a new competition record of 21 for the group stage.
"Of course it's nice (to score so many), especially since it is the Champions League and you're always up against good opponents, but we have also got to try to defend better as a team," said the Germany international, who scored his side's equaliser in the 88th minute, on his club's website.
"We've been conceding too many goals of late. Since we succeeded in scoring goals at the other end, it's not looked so bad, but we have got to try to defend better."
Dortmund's strength is the belief they have in their ability and Reus says that even when they were trailing Real 2-0 with 30 minutes to go, they did not give up hope of recovering.
"Of course not - we talked about it in the dressing room," Reus said. "We had had many good chances on the counter-attack in the first half and just the final ball or final two balls were lacking.
"We just didn't play out our chances well and we have got to thank Roman (Weidenfeller) for keeping us in the game.
"I'm just pleased to have scored and helped the team. A lot of my team-mates were involved in the goal."
With Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen finishing second in their groups, and with Real not possible opponents, the Westphalians will face one from Paris St Germain, Benfica, Manchester City, Porto or Sevilla when the draw for the last 16 is made on Monday.
Source: PA
