Borussia Dortmund sports director Michael Zorc yesterday downplayed the importance of topping the Bundesliga table at this stage of the season.

Dortmund returned to the summit following Sunday’s impressive 2-0 win at previous leaders Mainz with rising star Mario Gotze and Lucas Barrios on target while goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller also made a valuable contribution with a penalty stop from Eugen Polanski.

Zorc, however, insists there is still an awful long way to go.

He told the club’s official website, www.bvb.de: “It was an intense game with great pace from both sides. Roman Weidenfeller had a great game and kept us in the game with his penalty save.

“Being top of the table feels great, but of course it’s only a snapshot with barely a third of the season gone.”

Dortmund crashed out of the DFB-Pokal last week after falling victims to a giant-killing act from third division side Offenbach and Weidenfeller admitted it was important to bounce back as quickly as possible.

“It was a great game by us,” he said.

“It was important that we bounced back from the bitter defeat against Offenbach. The team definitely passed the test of character.”

Midfielder Sven Bender added: “Due to the chances we created, we definitively deserved to win this game.

“We have to approach the next two away games like Sunday. We just have to press forward, play aggressively and stick to our gameplan. And then we will look as good as in Mainz when we play in Paris (Europa League) and Hannover.

“When you climb back to the top spot you have every reason to be pleased.”