Football
ESPN staff 6y

Christian Pulisic not surprised by Borussia Dortmund's balanced attack

Christian Pulisic hailed his Borussia Dortmund teammates' sharing of goalscoring duties this season while backing his side's chances of competing for the Bundesliga title. 

The United States international scored the third in Dortmund's 3-0 away victory over Hamburg on Wednesday to put BVB one point clear of Bayern Munich after five rounds.

Shinji Kagawa and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also were on the scoresheet at HSH Nordbank Arena, and Pulisic praised the egalitarian way in which the team has been scoring this season.

"It doesn't surprise me. We have a great team and a ton of guys who can score goals, so it's just a good sign for the team," Pulisic said after the match.

Dortmund, known for their high-pressing and attack-minded style, recorded their fifth straight clean sheet in the league with the win.

Pulisic said: "The style of play that we're doing is what we practiced all year, so as you can see it's coming together. That's all credit to our defenders and our goalkeeper as well to keep these clean sheets and, yeah, it looks really good in the back."

Bayern sit a point ahead of Hoffenheim and Hannover in the Bundesliga standings. Asked if the race for the title had already begun, Pulisic focused on Dortmund's road ahead.

"The season's obviously just started and we're trying to put as many wins together as we can," he said. "So we're doing really well with that right now and we want to keep it up."

When pressed on Dortmund's chances to win the title, he added: "We're going to go out and try to win every single game like every other team, so there's no reason why not."

Speaking to media after Wednesday's win, Dortmund boss Peter Bosz said he was "proud" of his team's performance in Hamburg.

"I am proud of my team. It was not easy, it was in fact the toughest game so far," Bosz said. "We did not expect that HSV would put us under quite so much pressure. No one has been able to do that up until now, not even Tottenham.

"When you don't concede and score three, then you've got to be proud of the team, which is exactly what I am. I am really very happy that we won here today. We had good chances in the first half. If we had scored a second before half-time, it would have made things easier for us."

Hamburg coach ‎Markus Gisdol praised Dortmund's quality after the match, saying: "We were right in the game, and it remained an open match for a long time. Dortmund punished us ruthlessly, with effective, intricate plays right into the final third using their quality to make their way through.

"It sounds ridiculous to say after a 0-3 loss that you have played a good game. Not much more would have been required though to have given the opposition a few more problems. When we put in similar performances in the coming weeks, we will pick up points."

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