Marco Reus was not surprised by Borussia Dortmund's dismantling of Borussia Monchengladbach in their Bundesliga opener on Saturday.
Thomas Tuchel celebrated his first league match in charge of Dortmund with a 4-0 rout at Signal Iduna Park, with former Gladbach star Reus, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and a Henrikh Mkhitaryan brace doing the damage.
Dortmund endured a disappointing campaign in 2014-15, slumping to seventh in Jurgen Klopp's final campaign, while Gladbach impressed en route to a third-placed finish.
But Germany international Reus was confident Dortmund could show the sort of form that had previously made them the biggest threat to Bayern Munich's domestic dominance.
"I wasn't surprised by how well things went. This was our first big test, we knew Gladbach would pose a threat," he said.
"They're in the Champions League this season and were the best team in the second half of last season, but we put them under a lot of pressure.
"Not an awful lot has changed from last term. We were calm in attack and played the right ball at the right times. Even after going ahead we wanted to keep attacking."
Team-mate Marcel Schmelzer admits that he did not see the result coming, though.
"I am a little bit surprised [by the scoreline] but it's the result of all the hard work we've done over the last few weeks," he added.
"We were truly outstanding for the first 75 minutes of the game. We eased off a bit much in the second half but still managed to score a fourth, which was really important. We set the bar really high in the first half."
‘This is the hardest Manchester derby to call in years – Manchester United shouldn’t be petrified, it feels like Manchester City aren’t in control of any game at the moment’ Former Red Devils striker thinks a surprise result could be possible
‘Thierry Henry was my hero, but when you talk about players who have a wand of a left foot, he genuinely had that. He made my life so much easier on the right’: Ex-Arsenal star omits Gunners legend from his Perfect XI
