Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp was pleased with his players' resilience after watching them toil to a 2-0 win over Nuremberg on Friday.

The victory moved Dortmund three points clear at the top of the Bundesliga, although both Bayern Munich and Schalke can draw level with them with wins over Hamburg and Mainz respectively on Saturday.

Despite being expected to cruise past their opponents on Friday evening, Dortmund were well matched by their hosts for much of the match, only grabbing all three points eventually through goals from Sebastian Kehl and Lucas Barrios.

And Klopp admitted after the match that his players were made to work for the win.

"That was definitely a laborious victory," Klopp said on Dortmund's official website. "The whole game was a big challenge, because the opponents were up for the match.

"Nuremberg had a series of corners which were all dangerous, and today [Friday] was not as easy as it might have been. That makes the victory so special.

Klopp admitted Nuremberg defended well for much of the game, which led to impatience in the final third from his side.

"Nuremberg were very difficult to break down in defence," Klopp added.

"We had some very good moments, where we proved to be patient. But there were also some very impatient moments, especially in the first half."

Klopp was also pleased with Barrios returning to the scoresheet on Friday, especially with the Paraguayan struggling with injuries for much of the season, and admitted the striker still had a key role to play for BVB.

"It feels good [that Barrios scored]," Klopp spoke of his top scorer last season.

"It's normal that he is not happy when he does not play from the start.

"We now have another 14 league games and hopefully a few cup games, and we'll need his quality."

Barrios scored 16 goals in last season's Bundesliga-winning campaign, but he has been restricted to just twelve league games this season, and in his absence, Robert Lewandowski has establised himself as Dortmund's first-choice striker.