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Götze hails clinical Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund are through as Group D winners after beating AFC Ajax 4-1, Mario Götze telling UEFA.com his side "made use of the chances we created" to eliminate the hosts.

Götze hails clinical Dortmund
Götze hails clinical Dortmund ©UEFA.com

Borussia Dortmund gave a masterclass in ruthlessness against AFC Ajax under the roof of the Amsterdam ArenA as four goals from five attempts on target clinched qualification as UEFA Champions League Group D winners. The outstanding Mario Götze told UEFA.com his side just "made use of the chances we created" to win 4-1, while Daley Blind called the Bundesliga champions the most impressive team he had faced in the group as Ajax now focus on earning a spot in the UEFA Europa League – which concludes at their own stadium.

Mario Götze, Dortmund midfielder
We performed very well and made use of the chances we created – that is why we got this result. We were drawn in a very difficult group, but we simply looked forward to the opponents and the matches. And you could see that we wanted to make up for last year. I think we did very well in that sense. Whether it was against Real Madrid or Manchester City or here today, we produced a very good team performance, and we are delighted to finish top of the group.

We are also looking forward to the upcoming games. The UEFA Champions League is a very big challenge, and you need to rise to the occasion. We managed to do that – we stood up at the decisive moments and were efficient. That's the difference from last season.

Ivan Perišić, Dortmund midfielder
Actually, I don't think this was our best performance in the Champions League this season – I feel we were better against Manchester City, but we played some good football today and deserve to be first in the group. We showed all of Europe that we can perform in this competition and not only in the Bundesliga. We'll take it step by step, but if we continue to play like this we can do great things in this tournament.

Eyong Enoh, Ajax midfielder
Borussia are a very good team – they allowed us to play and caught us on the counter. They scored two early goals and we couldn't come back. You could see the quality they have. When we had possession we weren't very accurate in penetrating and getting the ball into the final third to create danger.

Of course the coach was angry at half-time, because their goals came from our own errors and sloppy defending. Obviously, the other teams in the group are stronger on paper, but in the Champions League anything is possible. We just went out to play and get experience. So far we haven't done that badly, and hopefully we can get the chance for more European football [in the UEFA Europa League].

Daley Blind, Ajax defender
We had pretty high expectations after our results against City, and although we knew Dortmund are a lethal team on the counter, we still just wanted to play our own game and go for the victory. We didn't necessarily play badly at times, but they were deadly when they got possession. They are the most impressive team we've played in this group, and they have the capacity to go very far in the tournament.

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