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MOTD: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Liverpool

By on April 7, 2016

Thomas Tuchel has followed in Jurgen Klopp’s footsteps, succeeding the German manager at both Mainz 05 and Borussia Dortmund. Whereas Klopp has always been an outspoken, high-energy personality, Tuchel is a more introverted, analytical presence and the difference is reflected in their teams on the pitch, laid bare as Klopp returned to his old home with Liverpool to face Tuchel’s Dortmund in a 1-1 Europa League quarterfinal tie.

Liverpool’s verve and intensity overwhelmed Dortmund up front and broke up their hosts’ usual composure. The English team’s defensive organization blunted the Germans and Mamadou Sakho and Dejan Lovren commanded a fantastic defensive display for Liverpool, while Tuchel walked away disappointed with an unusually sloppy, nervous performance from Dortmund.

“During the course of the week I got the feeling that the team were very calm and focused,” said Tuchel, via Dortmund’s official website. “In the first half we looked very nervous, tense and too dogged. I wanted the team to play with a smile on their faces, for them to approach the whole thing with a sense of freedom and lightness. Thankfully we managed to do that better in the second half.”

Klopp grabbed headlines and then plaudits after making a gutsy decision to start Divock Origi ahead of Daniel Sturridge up front. Opting for Origi’s physicality and movement, still raw at the age of just twenty, paid dividends when the young forward put Liverpool ahead with a lovely finish and gave the home crowd a painful reminder of the brazen daring that Klopp embodies.

Yet Tuchel’s men followed up with a calm and composed gradual buildup of momentum and Mats Hummels rose up to head the home side back level early in the second half.

Nevertheless, Liverpool will return to Anfield confident they can build on their strong performance and complete the job to progress to the semifinals.

The night kicked off when both sets of supporters united for a hair-raising rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone and Klopp’s men rose to the occasion. Sakho made a crucial block from Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the opening stages to avert an early crisis, but Liverpool were unfazed and Lovren forced Roman Weidenfeller into a smart block with a towering header in the twentieth minute.

Mkhitaryan dragged a low effort wide on the break just moments later, before Liverpool found the breakthrough in the thirty-fifth minute. The ball bounced in behind Dortmund’s defense for Origi to run onto and the forward did exceedingly well to tuck a low finish past his marker and into the bottom left-hand corner of the net on the turn. So far in his young Liverpool career, five of Origi’s six goals in Red have been scored away from home.

Origi should have doubled Liverpool’s lead on the brink of the half when he was slipped in on goal on the end of Alberto Moreno’s through ball, but took a long touch and saw his shot closed down by Weidenfeller.

Hummels sent a powerful header past Simon Mignolet on the other side of the half and the goal opened up the match. Just two minutes later, Philippe Coutinho forced a brilliant low save from Weidenfeller and the stopper also made excellent saves from Nathaniel Clyne and Coutinho again. Dortmund’s vulnerability at the back was particularly worrying for the home crowd and gives Liverpool an edge heading back to Anfield.

Homepage photo credit: Mathias Bigge (Own work) [CC BY 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.