Borussia Dortmund have returned to winning ways in the Bundesliga but their meagre 2-1 over St Pauli Hamburg was hardly a morale booster for the next major task on Tuesday.
Dortmund travel to the Bernabeu to face Real Madrid in what is a rematch of last season's Champions League final which Real won 2-0 at Wembley for a record-extending 15th title.
Dortmund have maximum points from their first two matches in this term's league stage but star-studded Real are of a very different calibre than Club Brugge and Celtic, even if they lost at Lille in their last outing.
Players must recover
"Tonight I'm not worrying about Real Madrid at all," insisted Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin, who has had a rocky start into his term.
"I am convinced that our analysts have the game ready. I also watched one or two Real games during the international break.
"The lads now need to recover. We don't have a lot of players available because we have many injuries. We will only have one training on Monday and then we will tackle the game."
Hard fought win against St Pauli
Dortmund had a modest Bundesliga campaign by their standard with a fifth-place finish last season, and have now had their worst start into the league in a decade.
They won against lowly St Pauli after losing the previous match 2-1 at Union Berlin, but Sahin and forward Julian Brandt spoke of a "dour" encounter.
"We're very happy, but also relieved," Brandt added.
Guirassy to the rescue again
Summer signing Serhou Guirassy came to the rescue for the second straight home game when he headed the 83rd-minute winner. Guirassy had previously scored a brace in their 4-2 comeback victory againns Bochum.
“He's super professional. An absolute professional who is used to performing every three days,” Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl said.
Praise for Bensebaini
There was also extra praise from Sahin for Rami Bensebaini, who scored Dortmund's opener.
"I already said in the summer that I find him a very exciting player. I was already a huge fan of his when he was still playing for Borussia Mönchengladbach," he said.
"Hopefully this is a step in the right direction for him. Now it's about getting consistent in his game."
Dortmund lamented that St Pauli's temporary equalizer from Smith in the 78th was given although Oladapo Afolayan appeared to obstruct goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.
Sahin upset over late lapse
They were very lucky late on when St Pauli's Adam Dzwigala fired over after a long throw-in.
"I am extremely upset about how we defend the throw-in. In the end, scenes like that make the difference between being here with 13 or 11 points," That's this step," Sahin fumed.
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