Liverpool are a club that have a great history of comebacks in major tournaments and the streak wasn’t ended in their heavyweight clash in the Europa League Quarter-Finals against German giants, Borussia Dortmund. Liverpool had played a previous 1st-Leg affair in Dortmund two weeks earlier where miraculously they came out with a dream result to draw 1-1 away from home. The task then seemed impossible, playing at the great Signal Iduna Park, one of the most iconic stadiums in the world for its noise and intensity, but with a goal from the young striker Divock Origi many Koppites turned heads and created much confidence in their side come the 2nd Leg at Anfield.
However, the dream looked to be shutout early when in just the first 10 minutes of the game, the Reds found themselves 2-0 down , 3-1 on Aggregate score, with goals conceded from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and the in form Pierre-Emirick Aubameyang. Going into halftime, Klopp, insisted into his players that “playing for Liverpool doesn’t mean nothing as you’ve seen before that the comebacks set before them were forged with hard work and mental strength.” Klopp was hinting towards the many years before in which Liverpool came back down 3-0 in the Champions League Final to win in penalties, versus Italian Giants, AC Milan.
Coming into the half immediate substitutions and tactical changes were made to the side bringing on Daniel Sturridge after Origi’s goal to bring the score to 2-1, 3-2 on Aggregate, and playing Klopp’s new play style of high pressure attacking soccer. Another suffering blow came however when Marco Reus scored again and the crowd was silenced making the score 4-2 with almost a half and hour left to play. It all seemed to be clear that Liverpool were still in it and it was made possible when Mamadou Sakho and Divock Origi brought back two goals to equalize with five minutes left but were not out of the loop yet because of Dortmund having the lead in its away goals over the Reds. But it all ended when Center half Dejan Lovren headed in the final goal to cap another remarkable comeback in the club’s history, to move Liverpool into a firm spot against Spanish side Villareal in the semi-final.
