Liverpool vs Borussia Dortmund: Europa League quarter-final, April 2016
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When Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund were drawn against each other for the quarter-final of the 2015-16 Europa League, it was a tie that the whole football world was looking forward to. The return of Jurgen Klopp and the special rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ were all things to look forward to. When the tie was made, Klopp said that it is a story only football can write and he was right.
Liverpool travelled to Germany for the first leg and returned with a 1-1 scoreline that gave them an advantage for the second leg. However, Liverpool’s plans and preparations for the return leg went out the window in just 10 minutes as Dortmund scored twice through Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang. This meant that the home team had to score three goals to progress.
Jurgen Klopp’s men picked up their game after conceding two goals, but they were unable to finish the chances they created and they created plenty. Liverpool came out for the second half with renewed energy and pulled one back within minutes after Divock Origi calmly finished a chance set-up by Emre Can. Their joy didn’t last long as Marco Reus scored for Dortmund and once again Liverpool needed to score three more.
Klopp introduced Joe Allen and Daniel Sturridge after Dortmund’s third goal and Liverpool became more threatening. Few minutes later, they scored their second after Philippe Coutinho finished off a brilliant passing move. With two more goals required, Liverpool won a corner. Coutinho didn’t put in a great cross from the corner, but it bounced in front of Sturridge and landed kindly on Sakho’s head. The Frenchman only had to direct it towards goal and he did it with ease.
The game went to added time of the second half and Liverpool won a free-kick near the halfway line. Except for Mignolet and Milner - who was taking the free kick, every other Liverpool player was in the box. Milner didn’t play the ball into the box and played it through to Sturridge who had made a god run towards the right side of the penalty box.
Sturridge held the ball up brilliantly and waited for Milner to make a run from the halfway line into the box. Once Milner was in the right position, Sturridge gave an inch perfect pass for Milner to latch on to, who then took a touch and dinked the ball into the six-yard box and it was met by Lovren at the far post. Lovren headed the ball into the net for Liverpool to take the lead in the game for the first time and thus completed another remarkable comeback at Anfield.
