Liverpool played out an absolute thriller of a European night against Borussia Dortmund last night, with the Reds coming away with a 4-3 victory (5-4 on agg) over the Bundesliga title chasers.
Anfield was absolutely electric prior to kick-off as both sets of supporters gave it both barrels for an inspirational rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, strangely the atmosphere only seemed to stiffen the home side.
Dortmund rushed into a quick lead via former club target Henrikh Mkhitaryan converting a rebound after a fine move, things were to get ever grimmer when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang finished emphatically from a difficult angle when put through on goal.
With glum faces all round, this Adam Lallana gaffe seemingly summed up the sides first half nicely….
As Liverpool’s backline continued to struggle with yet more exuberant displays of attacking via the Germans, the in-form Divock Origi gave his side a glimmer of hope to make it 2-1 on the night. Any wishful thinking was quickly deflated when Marco Reus finished sublimely to make it 3.
Little did they realise, with just 25 minutes remaining, there was to be a comeback of Instanbul-esque proportions…..
Firstly Philippe Coutinho’s low shot cut the deficit, soon after Mamadou Sakho headed finish sent Klopp and co on the Liverpool bench into absolute hysterics.
With seconds left on the Anfield clock and the aggregate score at 4-4, Dejan Lovren went a hell of a long way into to paying the club back for some horrific performances by finding a winner.
With ball sent to the back post, the Croatian rose superbly to send an unstoppable header past the hopeless and hapless Roman Weidenfeller, putting Liverpool into the semi finals.
With the Europa league’s grand prize now being a Champions League place, Klopp must sense an opportunity to turn what seemed an average season into a an almighty confidence boosting one.
Here’s match highlights…..
As you can imagine, Jurgen Klopp’s post match interview was rather ..er…entertaining…
— Kevin Mc Gillicuddy (@KMcGillicuddy86) April 14, 2016