Liverpool’s “little” advantage over Borussia Dortmund, Jürgen Klopp had claimed, lay in the knowledge his revival of the German club began by bringing favourites to their knees. His old club remain standing but his new one have the semi-finals of the Europa League within their grasp thanks to an accomplished display at Signal Iduna Park.
From Dortmund’s perspective, the reunion with their popular former manager fell flat.
Klopp set out to frustrate Thomas Tuchel’s side with supreme
organisation, defensive resilience and the strength of Divock Origi
leading the Liverpool attack. The visitors delivered on every count and
the end result, enhanced by Origi’s potentially precious away goal, was
their finest European away performance since the Rafael Benítez era.
Mamadou Sakho and Dejan Lovren were commanding in the face of
Dortmund’s much-vaunted but ultimately frustrated attack. The only
negatives for Klopp were a potentially serious knee injury suffered by Jordan Henderson,
one that threatens to sideline the Liverpool captain from the European
Championships, and one defensive lapse that allowed Mats Hummels to
equalise shortly after half-time.
Otherwise, despite all the pre-match talk of Dortmund’s developed
style and cutting edge, Liverpool left knowing they have little to fear
from their quarter-final opponents. Tuchel was indebted to several
outstanding saves from Roman Weidenfeller for limiting Liverpool to just the young Belgium international’s first European goal for the club.
Klopp strolled back out at Signal Iduna Park 35 minutes before kick
off, giving a polite little wave to the Yellow Wall and studying his
former players intently as they went through their warm-up, before
attention turned towards his current charges. There, Daniel Sturridge
trained among the substitutes having paid the price for a subdued display against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday
and his manager’s preference for the movement and physicality of Origi.
It was a major call to start a raw 20-year-old over the team’s leading
striker, vindicated when Origi stunned Dortmund with the opening goal.
The Liverpool manager also made a tactical decision to combat
Dortmund’s creativity in central midfield by switching James Milner to
the left of a central three. Alongside Emre Can and Henderson, Milner
added strength and stability to the visitors’ performance as they
absorbed pressure but the talents of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Julian Weigl
could not be suppressed completely. The pair’s influence increased in
tandem with the home side’s control in the first half, though it was not
reflected on the scoresheet.
Tuchel’s team made an edgy start, with loose passes and careless
first touches indicating the distraction of Klopp had got to them and
undermining attempts to seize the initiative. Maybe it was a coincidence
that the biggest culprits, Lukasz Piszczek and Erik Durm, were the two
players in yellow closest to their former manager as they patrolled the
flank in front of the technical areas in the first half. Gradually,
however, Dortmund’s quality pressed Liverpool back and it required two
crucial interceptions from Sakho to prevent the German side taking the
lead.
Weigl, the impressive 20-year-old midfielder, released Marcel
Schmelzer behind the Liverpool defence with a sweeping pass over the
top. The left back controlled and cut the ball back for Mkhitaryan but,
with the Armenian’s shot destined for Simon Mignolet’s net, Sakho
stretched out one of his telescopic legs and diverted the danger. The
French central defender repeated the trick when Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang broke down the left and attempted to find Marco Reus unmarked
in front of goal.
The pressure intensified, the game flowed in one direction.
Aubameyang’s free-kick was deflected just wide and Mkhitaryan went close
before, with Dortmund dominant, Liverpool struck. Alberto Moreno’s
cross was headed on by Milner. Origi read the midfielder’s intentions
quicker than any home defender and pounced on the ball, held off
Piszczek on the edge of the area and steered a low shot back inside
Weidenfeller’s right hand post. Klopp fist-pumped the one corner of the
stadium that did not fall silent.
Dortmund descended from control to chaos in an instant and only
last-ditch defending prevented Nathaniel Clyne and Milner doubling
Liverpool’s lead moments later. Origi should have done so with the last
kick of the half when played through the home side’s suspect defence by
Moreno, but his attempted chip was too close to Weidenfeller. Moreno did
not hide his disgust at the missed opportunity and his instinct proved
correct moments after the restart.
Liverpool had delivered a disciplined away display, making Dortmund’s
equaliser all the more galling for Klopp when his team switched off at a
short corner and gave Mkhitaryan freedom to sweep a left-footed cross
into their penalty area. The imperious Hummels towered above Adam
Lallana to steer a header beyond Mignolet’s grasp. Klopp later took
responsibility for the goal, revealing he ordered Lallana to mark that
area instead of Origi.
The visitors were stung into a response and Weidenfeller made
excellent saves from Philippe Coutinho, Clyne and Coutinho again as
Liverpool unnerved the German defence frequently. Dortmund’s
vulnerability at the back offers further encouragement for Liverpool at
Anfield next week, as does their growing maturity on the European stage
source : http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/apr/07/borussia-dortmund-liverpool-europa-league-match-report.
source : http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/apr/07/borussia-dortmund-liverpool-europa-league-match-report.
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