Full time: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Liverpool
A fine result for Liverpool, and one that was matched by the performance. They had less of the ball but more of the chances, and have a fine opportunity to create an Anfield Glory Night in a week’s time. Thanks for your company, night!
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90 min There will be two minutes of added nothingness.
88 min The match is petering out. I think Dortmund have been deflated by Liverpool’s defensive competence.
85 min Sturridge goes on a fine slalom into the Dortmund box before Hummels makes a good tackle. Liverpool could still nick this. Dortmund are dominating but in a sterile manner.
84 min Origi off, Sturridge on. The camera catches Thomas Tuchel picking his nose in disgust.
83 min “Riquelme as the ultimate ‘beauty for beauty’s sake’ player, too languid and beautiful for this world, is not among football’s sweeter-smelling cliches, is it?” says Phil Podolsky. “There’ve been too many more exciting and imaginative playmakers for Riquelme idolatry to have ground in reality, IMHO. At the end of the day, he wasn’t good enough for the best team he played for.”
Yes but sometimes there’s a man...
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82 min Dortmund don’t look like scoring, for all their possession. This has been an excellent night’s work from Liverpool: it hasn’t been comfortable, but then it’s Dortmund away. It’s been more comfortable than most expected.
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80 min Castro’s curling shot from the right of the area is beaten away by Mignolet. He has only had one really difficult save to make tonight. Liverpool break and Papastathopoulos is booked for a foul on Origi.
79 min Moreno goes in two footed on Pulisic, an absurd tackle that could have brought at least a yellow card. It was naive rather than nasty, but even so.
78 min Liverpool bring on Firmino for Lallana.
“The Dude’s favourite player would be Winston Bogarde,” says James Beesley, “surely.” Imagine if Chelsea had paid Bogarde in laundry. The whites.
76 min Dortmund make their final substitutions: Pulisic and Papastathopoulos replace Bender and Aubameyang. Reus is now playing as a Half Ten.
76 min “Were Klopp’s Dortmund the nearest thing we impoverished millennials have to Danish Dynamite?” asks Daniel Baird. “Highly explosive, slightly offbeat, successful but not *too* successful?”
Yes, I suppose they were: power, skill, swagger, haircuts. Colombia 2014 as well, in spirit if not style. But the best comparison is unquestionably Lokomotiv Moscow reserves circa 2011.
74 min “Perhaps a False Nine could alternatively be titled a Half Ten?” writes Phil Sawyer. “Also sadly known as a Past My Bed Time nowadays.”
73 min Before the game, Jurgen Klopp would probably have sacrificed a couple of the Dortmund tea ladies for a 1-1 draw. He still would, yet there is a nagging feeling that Liverpool could nick this. I’d get Sturridge on certainly.
72 min “Mr. Lebowski strikes me as someone who loves the strollers and idlers,” says Christoper Faherty. “His favourtie player would be Riquelme, and he would abhor gegenpressing. This aggression will not stand, man. It’s killing the game Rob!”
His favourite player ever? Mr Matthew Le Tissier.
70 min Dortmund are playing significantly more crossfield passes in this half. It’s true.
68 min “Hey Rob,” says Daniel Johnson, “I guess we have to wait until the end of the game to find out the real answer to the eternal question posed by the tv edit of Big Lebowski. The alps are kinda near Dortmund, right?”
67 min For the first time in the match, Liverpool are struggling to get out of their half. Origi looks a bit tired and might come off soon.
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65 min “Re. your comment at 56 mins: Is this actually an empty threat?” says Sarah Rothwell. “Would they allow you to present Match of the Day in the first place?” There are ways. You don’t wanna know about it, believe me.
64 min Gorgeous football from Dortmund. Hummels flicks a long pass down the inside-left channel with the outside of his left foot to Castro, who turns it back inside to Reus, 15 yards from goal. He tries a short-range chip over Sakho, but there isn’t quite enough room to work with and it hits Sakho on the shoulder. It was, nonetheless, wonderfully imaginative from the post-Iniesta genius that is Reus.
63 min “I got excited by the half-time score, and came to the pub to watch the second half,” says Matt Dony, telling us nothing whatsoever about tactics. “It’s a small pub with a tv either end of the room, one showing football, one showing golf, with the clientele split perfectly down the middle by age and apparent class. (Chinos to the left, Crown Paints Liverpool shirts to the right.) I’m sat on the golf side, but watching the football. Class warrior. Breaking down barriers. I might start singing some Billy Bragg.”
61 min “I think it’s probably best Rob leaves tactics alone,” says Ronan Heffernan. “Much like that other great Big Lebowski character - Donnie - he’d be out of his f%#king element.”
60 min “Also, Dude, False Nine is not the preferred nomenclature,” says Kevin Ryan. “Withdrawn centre forward, please.”
59 min Schmelzer belies his 94 years by running 40 yards to the edge of the area before falling over Lovren. The referee gives a free-kick, though the decision could have gone either way. It’s just outside the D, to the left of centre: Reus clips it over the wall and Mignolet makes a comfortable save as he plunges to his right.
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58 min Sahin’s low long-range shot is comfortably saved. “The safe hands of Mignolet,” deadpans the BT commentator Darren Fletcher.
57 min What would Jeffrey Lebowski have made of tactics I wonder? THE FALSE NINE IS NOT THE ISSUE HERE, DUDE.
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56 min If this game ends 1-1, I’ll present Match of the Day in my underpants.
53 min There have been so many opportunities in this game. Liverpool could easily have scored four.
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51 min That’s a stunning save from Weidenfeller! Liverpool put together a gorgeous one-touch move involving Origi, Allen, Lallana and finally Coutinho, whose fierce low shot from the edge of the area was brilliantly saved by Weidenfeller plunging to his right. Then, before I’d finished typing the above, he made two more vital saves from Coutinho and (I think) Clyne.
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50 min “In answer to that bloke Mark’s question,” says Kevin Ryan, “I would quote the great man: ‘I’ve got certain information, man. New sh-t has come to light.....’”
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49 min Origi ignores a challenge 25 yards from goal and smashes a shot not far wide of the near post.
GOAL! Dortmund 1-1 Liverpool (Hummels 48)
A tactical triumph for Thomas Tuchel, as Dortmund equalise from a corner. It was played short and curled in by Mkhitaryan towards Hummels, who got a run on Lallana and headed through Mignolet from six yards. Terrible defending from Liverpool.
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46 min We’re off!
“Morning Rob,” says Phil Withall. “Mark’s pithy comment is fair. I will expect you to lay out a Subbuteo pitch and upload images of starting positions, tactical changes and other incidents of import throughout the game to assist those that are without television coverage.”
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Both teams have made half-time substitutions Sahin for Durm, and Allen for the injured Henderson.
“They’re both playing 4-2-3-1 and pressing high,” says Mark, quoting my earlier entry.
“Rob, Who offers more information:
A. PM Cameron on Daddy’s money?
B. Guardian Rob on the tactics of Klopp and Tuchel?
Discuss.”
What do you want, a diagram?
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Half time: Dortmund 0-1 Liverpool
The half ends with Origi missing a one-on-one! After all that Dortmund pressure, Liverpool broke and Moreno ran 30 yards before slipping the ball through to Origi. He was possibly offside but it didn’t matter because Weidenfeller charged from his goal to make a vital save. He then got himself booked by shouting at the referee about the offside, or possibly a foul at the other end.
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45+3 min Another goal-saving block, this time from Lovren! Mkhitaryan played a beautiful, surprise through pass to Aubameyang, who slid to divert the ball towards the far corner – a bit like Marco van Basten against West Germany in 1988, though from closer in. It would have beaten Mignolet but Lovren tracked him all the way to deflect it behind. From the resulting corner, Mignolet made a fine save from Reus!
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45+2 min Durm shoots weakly at Mignolet from 20 yards. Dortmund look, if not rattled, then at least a bit unsettled by going behind.
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45 min There will be four added minutes, the result of that Weidenfeller injury earlier.
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44 min Lallana is booked for a late challenge on Schmelzer.
43 min Henderson is back on.
42 min There’s a break in play while Henderson receives treatment for something or other.
40 min “Hello Rob, and as I can’t watch the match to see for myself could you post something about how Klopp and Tuchel are approaching it from a tactical point of view please?” says Michael Cosgrove. “That’s one of the more fascinating aspects of the match imho.”
They’re both playing 4-2-3-1 and pressing high.
39 min Coutinho runs at Piszczek in the box and goes down. There was a bit of bodily contact but probably not enough for a penalty. But suddenly Liverpool all over Dortmund, and Clyne plays a brilliant one-two with Lallana before his shot is blocked desperately by Bender!
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38 min That goal wasn’t against the run of play; it was an affront to the run of play. After an even 30 minutes, Liverpool had been under all kinds of pressure.
After all Dortmund’s smooth football, Liverpool score with the simplest of goals. A ball infield from the left was headed forward by Henderson towards Origi. He was tracked by the last man Piszczek as he ran into the area, but he steadied himself and hit a low shot that deflected off Piszczek and wide of Weidenfeller.
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GOAL! Dortmund 0-1 Liverpool (Origi 36)
Liverpool are ahead!
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36 min After another exhilarating scamper into space from Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang curls straight at Mignolet from 20 yards.
34 min Dortmund are into their stride now. A penetrative pass from Piszczek finds Mkhitaryan in space just inside Liverpool’s half. It’s three on three, and he runs to the edge of the area, defenders backpedalling all the while, before dragging a left-footed shot a few yards wide of the near post.
33 min “With this Dortmund team, it’s so often not if but when they will score,” says Ruth Purdue. “Devastatingly beautiful at times.”
31 min Aubameyang breaks into the box on the left, with only Sakho between him and the keeper. Sakho takes up an excellent position so that Aubameyang isn’t sure whether to shoot or try to find Reus. He goes for the latter and Sakho concedes a corner. From which... nothing happens.
30 min Aubameyang’s sidefooted free-kick deflects a few yards wide of the post for a corner. From which... nothing happens.
29 min “Evening Rob...” says Jon Collin. “A question: is Mkhitaryan the best European player who won’t be at the European Championship this summer? I mean, it’s him or Steven Fletcher.” Arjen Robben? Mark Noble?
28 min Origi zooms down the left past Piszczek, who recovers well to concede a corner. Milner’s inswinger is punched away by Weidenfeller to Moreno, who sweet-spots a half-volley high over the bar from 25 yards.
26 min There have been occasional flashes of Dortmund’s enormous class, but overall Liverpool will be happier with the way the match has gone. Dortmund have had just that one chance, when Sakho blocked Mkhitaryan’s goalbound shot.
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24 min Lovren was going for the ball on the rebound but headed Weidenfeller straight in the coupon. If he’d connected that well with the original chance, etc and so forth.
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21 min Clyne runs 30 yards before he is fouled by Reus. That gives Liverpool both a breather and a free-kick in the Dortmund half. Milner curls it in to Lovren, who plants a free header straight at the keeper from eight yards.
Weidenfeller palmed it up in the air, whereupon Lovren and Lallana collided with him as he collected the loose ball. Weidenfeller’s on the floor having treatment to his mouth. Lovren should have scored but rammed his header into the ground, and when it bounced up it was straight at the keeper.
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19 min “While we have a lull: the Dortmund keep is wearing all-white,” says Charles Antaki. “That is unacceptable on all levels - historically, functionally and above all aesthetically. Actually in close up there seems to be that awful detail, ‘piping’. Yellow card.”
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17 min Sakho makes a goal-saving block from Mkhitaryan. Weigl clipped a lovely angled pass over the top for the onrushing Schmelzer, who drew Mignolet and then played the ball back to Mkhitarayan. His first-time shot from eight yards would have gone in but for Sakho’s superb block on the stretch.
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15 min This is all a bit subdued, relative to expectations anyway. Milner fouls Weigl 25 yards from goal on the right. Castro’s free-kick is poor and half cleared to Reus, who controls swiftly but drags a shot across goal and wide from 25 yards.
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12 min Liverpool are pressing very high as well now. Hummels runs 40 yards from defence before playing a quick, penetrative pass to Mkhitaryan, who can’t control it on the stretch just inside the area.
10 min The game hasn’t really settled down but, as Michael Owen says on BT Sport, that will suit Liverpool. Their old tactic away from home in Europe was to take the sting out of the game and silence the home crowd. They’ll do well to manage that here, mind you.
8 min Liverpool’s first decision spell of possession ends when Henderson’s cross is headed clear. Dortmund break and Can is booked for a foul on Mkhitaryan. That was a soft yellow card.
5 min Sakho plays the ball back to Mignolet, who is pressed by Aubameyang. Mignolet drags it coolly away from the sliding Aubameyang, and a good job he did: had he booted it downfield it would have hit Aubameyang and possibly rebounded into the net.
4 min A quiet start, on the field at least. “Just wow for YNWA,” says Anthony Abdool. “Jurgen’s made Liverpool likeable, damn him!”
Give it time.
3 min No high pressing as yet from Liverpool, who are in the country where Peter Reid invented the gegenpress.
2 min “The Pembrokeshire Pirlo (or, Crymych Crab, as a friend of mine harshly dubbed him) is a fine player indeed, but definitely not directly competing with Milner for a starting berth,” says Jurgen Klopp on Snapchat Matt Dony. “I’d start him ahead of Henderson at the moment, but it’s always awkward dropping your captain. Plus, Milner has form against Germans. He (bizarrely) demolished Munich almost singlehandedly for City. Ah, I’m nervous!!”
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1 min The atmosphere is stunning. English grounds used to be like this. Dortmund, in brilliant yellow, kick off from left to right. Liverpool are in red.
I haven't felt like this in ages. It's one of those rare occasions when I really miss playing.
— michael owen (@themichaelowen) April 7, 2016
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Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel have a nice hug on the touchline. There’s such a lovely mood around this match, and you would expect it to last at least 47 seconds before Mamadou Sakho ploughs clumsily through the back of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The atmosphere at the Westfalenstadion is magnificent, with both sets of fans singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. One old boy is on the brink of tears!
“If Ian Copesake’s Liverpool line-up has a midfield of “prosaics” with a couple of “creatives”, then the defence are surely “the suits” of the operation, the jacket-and-tie men who do the business so the front-of-house men can shine?” says Justin Kavanagh. “Unfortunately, these suits often play like they are in straitjackets and hogties.”
Liverpool have one very happy memory of playing on this ground
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“Evening from Eastern Finland, Rob,” says Paul Ewart. “Should be a cracker tonight, a bona fide Klopptico. Can’t pretend I’m not a little nervous. The good news: Martin Skrtel is nowhere to be seen. The bad news: nor is Daniel Sturridge, though one can understand the reasoning. But my question for you Mr Smyth is, is James Milner better than Joe Allen? I wonder if Kloppo’s got a bit of blindspot with regards the Welsh Pirlo/Captain Caveman.”
Wouldn’t Allen have to displace Henderson or Can to get in the team? The Sturridge decision is interesting but understandable, and he could be very effective from the bench.
“Thomas Tuchel’s Dortmund is fluid, and its goalscorers are unpredictable,” says Stanley Wu. “All Liverpool needs is flawless finishing, limitless stamina, Formula One quickness, and remarkable team cohesion...”
Would that i’twere so simple.
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An email! “I am in the habit of calling this midfield of Henderson, Can and Milner the ‘prosaic’ midfield,” says Ian Copestake. “It also only works if the ‘creatives’ (Coutinho and ‘Lallana’) get the ball off them as quickly as possible and turn to link up with whichever stirker (or ‘effete’) we are using in the hope they show why we paid what we paid. The defence has no name.”
It’ll have one at precisely 9pm.
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Team news
Roberto Firmino (not fully fit) and Daniel Sturridge (not fit for purpose) are on the bench for Liverpool. Mats Hummels returns for Dortmund but Ilkay Gundogan isn’t fit.
Borussia Dortmund (possible 4-2-3-1) Weidenfeller; Piszczek, Bender, Hummels, Schmelzer; Castro, Weigl; Durm, Mkhitaryan, Reus; Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Bürki, Sahin, Ginter, Leitner, Pulisic, Sokratis, Kagawa.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1) Mignolet; Clyne, Lovren, Sakho, Moreno; Henderson, Can; Milner, Coutinho, Lallana; Origi.
Substitutes: Ward, Toure, Smith, Allen, Ibe, Firmino, Sturridge
Referee Carlos Velasco Carballo.
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to the inaugural staging of Das Kloppfest, also known as Borussia Dortmund v Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. In a sense, Liverpool can’t lose. If they win, they haven’t lost (and they’ll have beaten the strong favourites to win the League); if they lose, they can rationalise it as a glimpse of a very happy future. This Dortmund side was built by Jurgen Klopp, and you can be he will similarly decisive when it comes to rebuilding Liverpool.
Klopp’s personality has already had an impact on a side who are erratic but dangerous. They are 5/1 to win tonight, though a narrow defeat with an away goal would constitute a good night’s work and set up a potential European Glory Night at Anfield™ at Anfield next week. Even that might be a big ask, because Dortmund’s home record this season is brutal: P22 W19 D2 L1 F69 A15.
Kick off is at: 8.05pm English time.
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Rob will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Jürgen Klopp’s pre-match thoughts:
Twelve months after announcing his decision to end a remarkable seven-year spell in charge of Borussia Dortmund, one that produced two Bundesliga titles, German Cup success and a near-miss in the 2013 Champions League final, Jürgen Klopp returns to Signal Iduna Park on Thursday. Looking forward to the Europa League quarter‑final first leg, the Liverpool manager explains why he has some misgivings over the reunion – particularly“KloppCam” – celebrating against a former club and why Thomas Tuchel, his successor, is not solely responsible for Dortmund’s improvement this season …
Will the Dortmund fans treat you as a returning hero or, perhaps, an enemy on Thursday? I don’t know what people think but I can only say that when we said goodbye it was really nice, really good. I know a lot of people who will be happy to see me again but it’s not the right situation to see friends. I have no problem if someone wants to hug me – if I know him!
At the end, it’s a football game. We all started playing football against our best friends when we were young and I can’t remember a moment when, because it was my best friend, I did not want to win against him. That is absolutely bullshit. There’s no doubting the importance of the game for both teams. I had no bad moment in my relationship with Dortmund, not one second, and no one has to show me they know about our positive past because I know about it. I know all about our relationship. No one has to show me anything. They can whistle if they like.
