How and Where: Liverpool scripted yet another miracle in Europe

How they lined up

Borussia Dortmund (4-2-3-1): Weidenfeller (GK), Piszczek, Sokratis, Hummels, Schmelzer, Castro, Weigl, Kagawa, Mkhitaryan, Reus, Aubameyang

1. Electric Dortmund breaks shock Liverpool

However, unlike the last match, where Liverpool had three in the centre midfield, this time, there were only two – James Milner and Emre Can. Milner pushed forward at every possible instance, leaving Can alone in the centre of the park to deal with the Dortmund attacking midfielders. With a pacy forward like Aubameyang in their ranks, the German side opted for a counter-attacking strategy at Anfield and they applied it to perfection in a gap of five minutes to silence the crowd.

It just took four minutes and four seconds for Thomas Tuchel’s men to erase the away goal advantage as Philippe Coutinho’s backpass paved way to a quick counter from Dortmund. The misjudged backpass from the Brazilian to Moreno was picked up Mkhitaryan, and he ran with the ball into a non-existent Liverpool midfield, before giving it to Kagawa. Although Aubameyang’s shot from Castro’s pass was saved by Mignolet, Mkhitaryan, who started the move, finished it 20 seconds after it began, with a tap in.

Even before Liverpool realised what had hit them, Dortmund struck again, with yet another counter attack catching the Liverpool defence off-guard. In what was an identical move, Marco Reus dispossessed Firmino near the half line and ran with the ball into the Liverpool half, before producing a beautiful throughball for Aubameyang. The Gabon striker, who found it tough in the first leg, showed why he is one of the most-coveted strikers in Europe and smashed the ball past Mignolet to score Dortmund’s second goal.

2-0 down on the night and needing three goals to go through with Dortmund leading by an away goal, Liverpool needed something special and it came in the second half, echoing memories of the famous comeback in Istanbul in 2005.

The two quick goals in the first half by Dortmund brought Milner closer to Can in midfield, as Liverpool re-organised to tackle the quick breaks from the Germans. Although, it looked much better for the home side in the rest of the first half, a goal remained missing as Liverpool went into the break.

The comeback was on, but the hopes only lasted nine minutes, as Marco Reus ran through the Liverpool defence to place, what looked like the final nail on the coffin giving Dortmund a 3-1 lead on the night.

3. The epic comeback

Liverpool needed three more goals in less than thirty-five minutes and looked almost out of the tie with the probability of Dortmund conceding three looking highly unlikely. But, in the 62nd minute, Klopp made two crucial changes bringing in Joe Allen and Daniel Sturridge for Adam Lallana and Roberto Firmino.

The ploy worked instantly as Coutinho pulled one back for the home side with a beautiful finish into the bottom corner. Liverpool still needed two more and they pushed forward in search of it, in the last twenty minutes. Two unlikely goal-scorers emerged then, as Sakho first and then Lovren, turned up in the opposite box to head in the goals.

As the final whistle sounded at Anfield, Liverpool had pulled off yet another epic comeback on the European stage invoking memories of the comeback they pulled off at Istanbul in 2005. Although, they are not guaranteed a trophy this time around, Klopp and his troops will take a lot from the win after upsetting a side, which had been unbeaten in 2016 across competitions, to remain the only unbeaten side in Europe.