Niko Kovac says Borussia Dortmund's European hopes are in their own hands after Sunday's stunning victory over Borussia Monchengladbach.

An eight-minute surge at the end of the first half was enough to earn Dortmund a 3-2 win, which leaves them just two points off Mainz, who occupy the final European spot as it stands.

Serhou Guirassy, Felix Nmecha and Daniel Svensson got the goals for BVB as they bounced back from Ko Itakura's opener, with Kevin Stoger's penalty not enough to inspire a Gladbach comeback.

Kovac praised his side for their recent performances, which have included a spirited 2-2 draw away to Bayern Munich and a 3-1 victory over Barcelona in their Champions League second-leg match after a heavy defeat to the Catalan giants away from home.

"The team's development is positive," said Kovac.

"We're stable, we're consistent. Now let's ignore the 4-0 loss in Barcelona, but against [Bayern] Munich and Barcelona here, today against a really strong opponent - Gladbach aren't where they are at the moment for nothing."

Despite their recent resurgence, which has reignited hopes of European football for yet another season, Kovac does not want to look ahead to the end of the campaign and instead wants to focus on developing his side game by game.

He said: "We've developed well, but it's not over yet. And we don't want to see what happens in two or three weeks' time, but in a week's time against Hoffenheim. That's the most important thing.

"We have to win this game and then see what happens in the next one. And it's all about us and I want to instil that in the team somewhere every day.

"Because looking somewhere to see what the others are doing is something we've already done over the course of the season since I've been here.

"The others haven't always done everything to perfection either, but we haven't been able to earn points. That's why the focus is on us and at the end of the day, on May 17th, we'll know more, the Gladbach team and us, what the bottom line will be."

Opta's Supercomputer gives Dortmund a 15.7% chance of nabbing the final Champions League spot, but their chances of reaching fifth place, which would guarantee Europa League football, increase to 21.5%. The probability of a sixth-place finish is 20.4%.