Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp praised striker Lucas Barrios after he scored his first of the season in Friday's 2-0 win over Nurnberg.

Barrios: Celebrates his goal on Friday

Barrios was on the brink of leaving the club this week after being placed on the transfer list at his own request due to his limited opportunities this season.

However, no deal could be struck with another club and Barrios remained with the Westphalians to come on from the bench and score his first Bundesliga goal of the current campaign to seal a win which took Dortmund three points clear at the top of the table.

"Lucas really deserved this goal," said Klopp on his club's website.

"He is feeling good and it is normal that he is not happy when he is not starting games.

"We now have 14 more games and hopefully a few more cup games so we need to have his quality in our attack.

"He is going to get chances to play."

Klopp also savoured one of his side's most difficult wins of the season.

"We definitely had to work hard for this win," he said. "It was a big challenge from start to finish.

"They had a string of corners, each one becoming more and more dangerous, and we knew it was not going to be so easy.

"That makes the win so special."

Bayern Munich can return to the top of the Bundesliga on Saturday by defeating Hamburg, but Dortmund have at least increased the pressure on Jupp Heynckes' side.