Reus: "There's definitely room for improvement"

Reus netted BVB's third in their 5-0 thrashing of Union Berlin on Matchday 20, a result that lifted the side to third in the table, three points behind leaders Bayern Munich.

And yet while conceding things are undoubtedly moving in the right direction, the 30-year-old insists more is still to come, even with Erling Haaland in unstoppable goalscoring form.

Question: Marco Reus, 5-0 against Union Berlin – you've got to be happy with that result, but are you also happy with the game?

Reus: "It was a deserved win, also by this margin, even if for the ten minutes before and after half-time, we didn't play the kind of football we'd been playing before. But we can live with that. We've scored five goals in three games in the second half of the season and things are going well. Things are heading in the right direction, no more, no less."

Question: What do these three wins and 15 goals mean in view of the tasks in hand? Do they give you the momentum you need to face Leverkusen, Frankfurt and Paris Saint-Germain?

Reus: "I hope this does give us momentum. It was important for us to see what we can do when we do build up a head of steam. These first three games [of the year] have been fine, even though there's definitely room for improvement. We know we're going to come up against sides with even more quality in the weeks to come, but that's good for us because they like to attack and we'll find even more room than we have in these games."

Question: You've already played alongside some excellent strikers in your career. Where would you rank Erling Haaland? Can he be compared to any of his predecessors?

Reus: "I don't think we need to compare Erling with anybody. He's got his own hunger to score goals, and many people have already spoken these weeks about his determination to score, even in training and after training. We don't want to put the brakes on him. He should just take it as it comes, lap it up and try to keep playing this way in the coming weeks."

Watch: Jadon Sancho and Haaland reflect on record-breaking performance

Question: How is the team benefitting from having Erling up top?

Reus: "With wins! (smiles) He actually gives us another option, even if it didn't always work perfectly against Union. Erling's first got to find his feet and get used to us, and we've got to get used to him. Hopefully it will get even better as the season progresses. I don't think he's even at 100 per cent fitness yet, but he deserved to start against Union so that he can find the rhythm that he needs."

Question: Just before you came off, you were able to score a penalty. That must have done you good, especially after you missed your last spot-kick against Barcelona...

Reus: "Penalties are always 50/50, but I'd been working on them and I'm glad I could help the team with this goal."

Question: BVB have just brought in Emre Can, who you know well from the Germany national team. What kind of a player is he, and how can he help Dortmund?

Reus: "He gives us and the coach more options when it comes to how we play and who plays. He can play in a back three and he can also play in defensive midfield. He's a very robust player who throws his weight around on the pitch and those are the sort of things we need in a long season. It's not ideal for him to come in when we've just won three in a row, but I think the coach has something in mind for him, and so do we."

Dietmar Nolte reporting from Dortmund