Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel said he had no regrets about making widespread changes to his team to face Schalke after a 2-2 draw all but ended their hopes of winning the Bundesliga this season.
Tuchel made eight changes to the side which had held Liverpool to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Europa League quarterfinal tie on Thursday and he made it clear where his priorities lay with his team selection.
The draw leaves Dortmund seven points behind Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga with only five games to play, but Tuchel said he was forced to rotate.
"Of course it was down to the double burden we have," Tuchel said.
"I had thought about my starting XI for today's game very early on. This was our 48th game of the season and we're reaching our limit.
"I know it was a lot of changes, but with every video analysis we did, it felt more and more like a good idea, and we were able to make good changes after an hour.
"We believed 100 percent in this team and that was confirmed."
Christian Pulisic, who was given his senior USA debut in a recent friendly against Guatemala, was one of the beneficiaries of Tuchel's rotation, and he went close to scoring his first goal for the club.
Tuchel never had any qualms about picking the 17-year-old.
"He's still in our youth team and his first two starts have come against Leverkusen and today in Schalke," Tuchel said.
"There are certainly easier ways to start, but that just shows how highly we rate him, and that we see him as an integral part of our squad.
"He was valuable to us as a substitute against Werder [Bremen] and Liverpool and he's been looking fresh lately, and he showed that again today."
Tuchel was satisfied with the point, even if it does mean Dortmund's title hopes are effectively over.
"I saw plenty of good things," he told his club's website.
"I was delighted with Illie's [Gundogan] return, with Pulisic's performance and also Adrian Ramos. It was an intense game, so it's all good."
All is not so good for Schalke, though, and their coach Andre Breitenreiter continues to be under pressure with his side outside the European qualifying berths with five games of the season remaining.
He nevertheless felt he has earned himself a bit of credit from the fans.
"The main thing was giving the right answer after the Ingolstadt game," Breitenreiter said. "We showed heart and passion.
"Not many people expected us to get anything against Dortmund so I think a draw is a good result at the end of the day."
Shinji Kagawa had given Dortmund the lead before Leroy Sane brought Schalke level.
Matthias Ginter quickly put the visitors in front once again but a Klaas-Jan Huntelaar penalty earned Schalke a share of the spoils.