Borussia Dortmund have learned a lot about themselves from the last-gasp Europa League elimination at the hands of Liverpool, but must prove it in the DFB-Pokal semi-finals, says Thomas Tuchel.
After a 1-1 draw at the Signal Iduna Park in the quarter-final first leg, Dortmund raced into a 2-0 lead in the return fixture at Anfield on Thursday.
Their advantage in the tie was 4-2 shortly after half-time in the second leg, but goals from Philippe Coutinho, Mamadou Sakho and Dejan Lovren consigned them to elimination by an aggregate score of 5-4.
Tuchel is still stinging from the nature of the defeat, and expects to see whether improvements are made when they take on Hertha Berlin in the DFB-Pokal semi-finals on Wednesday.
"There was a huge dejection and this feeling was also dominant on Friday. It was a very drastic negative experience," said the Dortmund coach.
"We should handle this open-minded and honestly. But it will still take some time, until we come to terms with that experience.
"We have learned a lot about ourselves recently. In Berlin, we will see if we have learned the lessons from Liverpool.
"Defeat is underestimated, you can learn a lot from it."
Before the cup semi-final, Dortmund entertain Hamburg on Sunday and Tuchel expects a strong display to help relieve the disappointment suffered by the fans.
"I expect us to be fully prepared and to bring a top performance. We are not playing to prepare ourselves for Wednesday," he said.
"We play for tomorrow and 81,000 spectators. Hamburg is a very hardworking and passionate team.
"We don't have to make any changes due to injuries, but I'm playing with the thought to make a couple of changes."
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