Jürgen Klopp skipped from player to player like a giddy uncle at a wedding, Jordan Henderson bounded on to the pitch on crutches while Mamadou Sakho and Dejan Lovren, the central-defensive saviours, continued to punch the air as they exited 10 minutes after the final whistle. One of the great European comebacks, one of the great European ties and when it was all over Anfield was a scene of delirium, disbelief and, in the Borussia Dortmund corner, utter despair.Klopp’s Liverpool have their Istanbul moment.
Where to begin? The 57th minute is a fitting starting point for a contest that never made sense. A hush descended over Anfield at the point when the excellent Marco Reus slipped Dortmund into a 3-1 lead on the night and left Liverpoolagain needing three goals to progress. No chance, or so those unaccustomed to Liverpool’s rich European history would have assumed.
But then Philippe Coutinho roused the home crowd once more in the 66th minute, 2-3. Sakho, nodding home in front of the Kop 12 minutes later, 3-3. Wonderful, stirring stuff but not enough with Dortmund desperately clinging on via the away-goals rule. The board lit up. Four minutes. Daniel Sturridge released James Milner inside the penalty area and from the byline, having been jeered for his corner taking only moments earlier, the midfielder floated a perfect cross to the far post. Lovren soared above Adrian Ramos. 4-3.
Whatever else unfolds during Klopp’s Liverpool reign, the Europa League quarter-final defeat of his old club is unlikely to be bettered in terms of one-off drama.
From Dortmund’s sensational start that left the home side shell-shocked to Liverpool’s remarkable finale that left the visitors’ dumbfounded, the tie enthralled throughout. It showcased the German side’s style and quality but also the defensive frailty that had offered Liverpool encouragement in the first leg.
It demonstrated individual flaws in the Anfield ranks but most of all the indefatigable spirit and unity that Klopp has instilled in only six months. They are now just three steps from the most unexpected return to the Champions League. With their manager’s Midas touch, and the belief flowing from this unforgettable victory, Liverpool will fear no one after somehow preserving their record of never having lost to German opposition at Anfield.
Both teams finished the quarter-final unrecognisable to how they began. Thomas Tuchel’s innate confidence at the pre-match press conference was no act. “We don’t want to score one, but two, maybe more. We want to attack and to take risks,” he had proclaimed. Dortmund were as good as their coach’s word until tired legs and Liverpool’s late assault derailed them. The second-best team in the Bundesliga were inhibited by Klopp’s return to the Westfalenstadion last week but initially would flourish at Anfield – another Tuchel prediction.
After 246 seconds the visitors were ahead in the tie when Henrikh Mkhitaryan converted from close-range after Simon Mignolet had saved superbly from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s volley. Coutinho had unwittingly instigated the breakthrough with a careless pass deep in the Dortmund half but the speed of execution from Mkhitaryan, Shinji Kagawa and Gonzalo Castro was stunning. Another polished move made it 2-0 after nine minutes. Reus breezed past two tame challenges in central midfield, threaded an inch-perfect pass behind Sakho and Aubameyang smacked his 37th goal of the season into the top corner. The start befitted the occasion.
Before the 27th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster on Friday, when Anfield will host its annual memorial service for the final time, both the Kop and the Dortmund section paid tribute to those who died, displaying mosaics that read simply “96”. A minute’s silence was observed and then the atmosphere returned with an intensity that had begun long before kick-off, when fans and flares filled Anfield Road in scenes reminiscent of the 2014 title challenge, as the team bus pulled in.
This was the kind of contest Klopp relishes, not only in terms of noise levels, emotion and significance but in the challenge of eliminating a side that arrived at Anfield unbeaten in 2016. “If your opponents are better,” he said at the start of his Liverpool tenure, “you have to bring them to your level and then you can kill every team.”
Liverpool’s hope of killing Dortmund’s dream of completing the full set of European trophies lay not in the scoreline or the quality of their first-half display but in the number of chances created once they overcame the initial shock. Divock Origi, Alberto Moreno, Adam Lallana and Roberto Firmino all had decent chances in the first half but Liverpool departed for the interval without a shot on target. That finally changed when Origi earned reward for a tireless contribution with an emphatic finish under Roman Weidenfeller after Emre Can had carved open Dortmund’s midfield and released the Belgian striker through on goal.
Reus’ cool finish from Mats Hummels’ pass behind a static Nathaniel Clyne appeared to signal the end of hope but Liverpool still had time and belief to turn the tie around. They also had a frenzied atmosphere back when Coutinho found the bottom corner from 20 yards after exchanging passes with Milner. Anfield moved into a state of mild hysteria when Sakho met the Brazilian’s bouncing corner with a near-post header and progressed to full-blown when Lovren won the game with a towering header in injury-time.
A game to cherish, a night to remember and a glorious opportunity ahead.