Dortmund official challenges club to be more physical

Instead of complaining, Borussia Dortmund general manager Hans-Joachim Watzke wants his club to embrace the physical style that helped Bayer Leverkusen come away with a 2-0 victory over the weekend.

Manager Thomas Tuchel was critical of Bayer following Dortmund's loss, complaining that the Bundesliga rivals had not been sufficiently punished after committing, what he estimated, 20 fouls during Saturday's contest.

However, Watzke suggests that it's time that Dortmund fight back and match its opponents' physical approach.

"Perhaps we should go into the tackles harder and forget about winning the fair play prize," Watzke told German outlet Bild, as translated by Sky Sports.

"The fact is, people play very aggressively against us and that has nothing to do with being bad losers.

"Dortmund have always been the fairest side in recent years and we've got to look at whether this harder approach is becoming a trend."

Bayer received five yellows during the contest but ultimately avoided going down a man before the final whistle sounded, as Dortmund slid down the table to third place behind Hertha Berlin.