Sahin: Pirlo injury cost Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund midfielder Nuri Sahin believes the Bundesliga side would not have lost the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie with Juventus had Andrea Pirlo not gotten injured. Jurgen Klopp's men were beaten 2-1 at Juventus Stadium on February 24, with Pirlo being forced to leave the pitch after 37 minutes of play due to injury with the score at 1-1. Sahin has revealed Dortmund had a clear plan to eliminate the experienced playmaker and struggled to deal with Juventus' plan B after Pirlo's exit. "I do not want to be disrespectful in any way, but I would have preferred it had Pirlo not gotten injured," Sahin was quoted as saying by Kicker . "Pirlo's free kicks are superb, his corner kicks are as dangerous as a normal shot on target and he can find space behind the opposition's defence. He is of brutal quality. "But we had come up with a clear plan on how we were going to fight a team containing Pirlo. And this plan worked superbly until he was forced off. "Maybe we somehow thought Juventus would not find an answer to our gameplan any more after Pirlo was gone. They had to come up with a solution without Pirlo and that paid off for them. "Pirlo is a true great, though, and will forever remain a legend." Dortmund will be looking to turn around their first-leg defeat in the return at Signal Iduna Park on March 18. source: goal