Klopp: We deserved to win

Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp praised his side for passing a difficult test in the snow to beat Freiburg 2-0 yesterday. The Westphalians returned to winning ways in the Bundesliga after a derby defeat to Schalke a week ago, but the conditions at the Dreisamstadion took some mastering. "It was incredibly difficult to get used to the conditions in the first half, but we did better in the second and had big chances to score sooner than we did," he said. According to Klopp, the state of the snowbound pitch was contrasting at both ends of the field, making it a game of two halves in more than just one respect. "It was muddy and the area just in front of the Freiburg fans was harder to play in than the other areas," he said on his club's website. When I was younger, we always wanted to play in conditions like this, but we were not allowed to because mum didn't want to do all the washing. Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp on the mud at Freiburg "Freiburg then noticed that in the second half. We were better in the second half than Freiburg were in the first, therefore we deserved to win a game in which anything could have happened." Klopp said it was right for the game to go ahead, though, even if it took some time for both teams to adjust to the conditions. "Football is an outdoor sport and usually you can slowly get yourself ready for the winter, but we were still wearing t-shirts on Monday, and that would have been deadly today. "When I was younger, we always wanted to play in conditions like this, but we were not allowed to because mum didn't want to do all the washing - now we can play in these conditions, and nobody wants to." From FIFA