Borussia Dortmund Boss Peter Bosz Insists Europa League Is a Priority Following UCL Elimination

Borussia Dortmund manager Peter Bosz has stated that his side will take the Europa League seriously after their Champions League campaign ended in defeat against Real Madrid.

Going into the game on Wednesday night the Bundesliga giants already knew their fate. With only two points in the group stages, Dortmund mathematically could not reach the next round of the Champions League. 

However, a point or a loss for Apoel Nicosia would see the German side progress to the Europa League. 

Speaking after the game, Bosz was saddened by the Champions League elimination, but stated that the Europa League will be a priority for Dortmund this season and they will take the competition seriously, as quoted by Marca.

"We wanted to continue in the Champions League. "Now we will put everything we have into the Europa League."

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Two goals on the night from forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were not enough to give Dortmund the win, and Bosz spoke about his hopes of keeping the player amid rumors of a transfer away.

"He isn't a player for Madrid... I'm joking of course," the Dutchman intimated. "He has shown many times what a great player he is.

"He has speed and scores a lot of goals; I hope he will stay with us for many years."

Despite a poor run of results, which has seen Dortmund lose key players to injury, the former Ajax boss still remains positive and knows that once his star performers return the results will improve.

"When the injured players return we'll improve. We still have to improve our level of performance, today went very badly.

"We showed at times that we can play football very well."

Der BVB face Werder Bremen at home on the weekend and will hope to pick up their first win in the Bundesliga for over two months.