Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Robert Lewandowksi scored twice each as third-placed Borussia Dortmund thrashed hapless Werder Bremen 5-1 away on February 8, pushing the four-times champions closer to the relegation zone.
“The team played really fantastic football and thoroughly earned the win. We passed up a few chances but still managed to bag five goals. It was just tremendous,” Bundesliga’s official website quoted Borussia Dortmund’s head coach Jurgen Klopp as saying after the match.
A goal apiece from Robert Lewandowski and Henrikh Mkhitaryan had them firmly in the driving seat by half-time, and the duo both doubled their personal tallies following Manuel Friedrich’s first for the club to round out a comprehensive victory, with debutant Levent Aycicek coming off the bench to net a late consolation for Werder.
Mkhitaryan responded in the best way possible to a degree of recent criticism of his performance level. “Miki didn’t just score two goals, he had a sensational game all-round,” said Klopp; “We know exactly what he’s capable of, which football fans and journalists sometimes forget. When it doesn’t go well for two or three weeks, everything’s called into question. We don’t do that.”
That said, the coach acknowledged that Mkhitaryan’s showing at Bremen had been “incredibly important for him,” while the Armenian midfielder himself echoed Klopp’s assessment that there was room for further improvement in the area of consistency,” said the 25-year-old. “I’m still working towards the stage where I can turn in a shift like that regularly, I’ve never let my head drop and always tried to do my bit for the team, but days like today are certainly very satisfying.”
