Dortmund deserved to lose in sorry showing at Tottenham, claims Schlotterbeck

Nico Schlotterbeck offered no excuses for Borussia Dortmund’s defeat to Tottenham, as the defender insisted his team deserved to lose.

BVB went down 2-0 on Tuesday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where Daniel Svensson received a first-half red card.

For the first time on record (from 2003-04 onwards), Dortmund failed to have a shot in a single half of a Champions League match, with Niko Kovac’s team not managing one attempt before half-time.

They ended the game with six shots, though only one of those hit the target, while they accumulated a meagre 0.4 expected goals (xG), managing just nine touches in Spurs’ box.

“We didn’t quite find a way to play the game we wanted to play,” Schlotterbeck told Amazon Prime.

“Tottenham weren’t any better than we expected. The first five minutes were okay. After that, we allowed them too many set-pieces, defended poorly and then got into a rut that saw us lose every ball.

Full time. pic.twitter.com/neFfFwrhVE

— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) January 20, 2026

“We got a bit stuck in the first half. The red card was just very bitter. In the second half, we put in a decent performance, considering we were a man down.

“If we had pulled a goal back, it might have got exciting again. But as it was, we deserved to lose.”

The defeat leaves Dortmund in 12th place on 11 points, and they will need to beat Inter next week in order to qualify for the last 16 automatically.

“I’m rather disappointed after the game,” said Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.

“It’s difficult for me to be positive so soon after the match. The first half was really awful.”