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In their words: Players, coaches react to Borussia Dortmund’s thrashing of Real Madrid

Borussia Dortmund's coach Klopp acknowledges his fans as he walks past his player Gotze after their Champions League quarter final first leg soccer match against Malaga in Malaga

Borussia Dortmund’s coach Jurgen Klopp acknowledges his fans as he walks past his player Mario Gotze after their Champions League quarter final first leg soccer match against Malaga at La Rosaleda stadium in Malaga, April 3, 2013. REUTERS/Jon Nazca (SPAIN - Tags: SPORT SOCCER)

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“I’m happy to have scored four goals, but obviously the big picture is reaching the final and that’s the only thing that counts. Real played well in the first half but we had things under control in the second half.” -- Robert Lewandowski, forward, Borussia Dortmund, via UEFA.com

“I gave all my players a hug, because they fully deserved it. That was pure football tonight, my players were unstoppable. We lost the plot a bit after 25 minutes, however, and the players were a bit unsettled, which led to the equalizer.” -- Jurgen Klopp, head coach, Borussia Dortmund, via UEFA.com

“I’ve never seen such a great goal as [Robert Lewandowski] ‘Lewy’s’ third – that was absolutely amazing.” -- Kloop, via UEFA.com

“The bad thing about having a first and second leg is that we still need to play a game in Madrid. Therefore, we need to keep calm and not go crazy after this game. We all know that it won’t be a walk in the park in Madrid.” -- Klopp, via UEFA.com

“They were the better side by far. They won their individual battles. They were better organised than us, better physically and better mentally. The game went from 1-1 to 4-1 in such a short space of time. We lost possession easily and couldn’t cope with their transitions and speed on the break.” -- José Mourinho, head coach, Real Madrid, via UEFA.com

“For three of the goals we lost possession too easily and didn’t mark properly. We know about Lewandowski’s movement and he deserves great credit for his performance, but we didn’t make it as difficult for him as I would like.” -- Mourinho, via UEFA.com

"[M]any of the boys had a bad game and a bad night. At club level this is the second-most important game, after the final. Obviously I am very disappointed with how it’s gone.” -- Mourinho, via UEFA.com

“In football anything is possible. On a crazy night when everyone performs at a high level, when every chance is a goal, we can turn it around.” -- Mourinho, via UEFA.com

“It was a royal evening for us, it would have been perfect if we had kept a clean sheet. However, it’s quite hard to get a better result against a team like Real. We played a great game from the start until the final whistle and deserved to win by this margin.” -- Ilkay Gundogen, midfielder, Borussia Dortmund, via UEFA.com

“We were lacking in attitude and I point to myself first when I say that. It will be very difficult in the return leg at home but we must remain confident and try to react. When the draw for the semi-finals was made a lot of people thought this was going to be easy for us but this is a German team we are talking about; they are a great side.” -- Sergio Ramos, defender/captain, Real Madrid, via UEFA.com

“I’m happy my teammates helped me recover from the mistake. I’m not happy with my performance but the rest of the team played great.” -- Mats Hummels, defender, Borussia Dortmund, via @cnyari