Borussia Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl says maintaining belief will be key if they are to snatch Champions League qualification, following Saturday's controversial 3-2 win at Hoffenheim.

Dortmund looked set to drop two valuable points in the European race when Pavel Kaderabek scored Hoffenheim's second equaliser in the 90th minute, but more drama followed five minutes into stoppage time.

Waldemar Anton slotted into an empty net following a nasty collision between Carney Chukwuemeka and Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann, sealing BVB's fourth win in their last five league games.

They are now sixth in the Bundesliga with three games to play, just three points behind fourth-placed Freiburg with a superior goal difference.

Kehl told Sky Sports in Germany after the game: "We needed this win today and we got the three points, that's the decisive thing. 

"To win the game in this way must give us strength for the next few weeks. We have to keep believing in it and then we can still do it."

𝐵𝒪𝑅𝒰𝒮𝒮𝐼𝒜 𝒟𝒪𝑅𝒯𝑀𝒰𝒩𝒟 pic.twitter.com/ovI5lQmQ1D

— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) April 26, 2025

Hoffenheim remain 15th in the table, only five points clear of Heidenheim, who occupy the relegation play-off spot.

Their coach Christian Ilzer was furious with the decision to allow Dortmund's winner, saying: "It was a scandalous decision! What about the issue of head injuries?

"I've seen it several times, you can see Baumann's drawn face. 

"Chukwuemeka does not touch the ball. Oli is knocked out and the Dortmund player shoots the ball into the empty goal."

His Dortmund counterpart Niko Kovac, however, felt Chukwuemeka touched the ball before making contact with Baumann. 

"I think that Carney touches the ball a bit earlier and that's not a foul for me," he said. "The fact that the ball then falls to us and Waldi then shoots, it just happened that way. 

"If Baumann has the ball in front of Carney, it's a foul. But you can see that Carney hits the ball a millisecond before."

Dortmund host Wolfsburg next week, with a trip to Bayer Leverkusen and a home match against relegation-threatened Holstein Kiel rounding out their campaign.