Borussia Dortmund coach Edin Terzic has opened up about his side throwing away the Bundesliga title on the final day of the season.
Dortmund entered the final game of the season top of the table, knowing a win would secure their first league title since the 2011/2021 campaign.
However, the Black and Yellow had to rally back from two goals and could manage a 2-2 draw against Mainz.
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"It's difficult to find the right words," Tezic told ESPN after the match.
"We feel empty because we knew about the chance, you could feel the energy within the stadium and city.
"We all wanted it so hard. We were so close -- just one goal was missing, it was one goal in the other stadium that was missing, we knew we were 90 minutes away from lifting the trophy."
Star midfielder Jude Bellingham was unable to feature in the game, with Terzic revealing the player was left out due to a knee injury.
"Jude was fighting every day to get back into the team. It was a tough decision," Terzic said, as per ESPN.
"It was too tight. Hopefully he's going to recover as quick as possible. I can't answer this question now -- he didn't feel well this morning, he didn't feel well before the game -- he told us he didn't feel ready to start the game and if we needed him, we could put him on for a couple of minutes.
"Of course he's very sad and emotional like the others. He's one of the main reasons why we were in the situation today. I hope once again ... I'm quite sure he's a winner, and he'll win so many trophies in his career, and for that he needs to stay fit and healthy and recover as quick as possible."
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