Divock Origi credited manager Jurgen Klopp after Liverpool produced a remarkable turnaround to beat Borussia Dortmund and reach the Europa League semi-finals.
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Liverpool drew 1-1 in Dortmund a week earlier on Klopp’s return to his old stomping ground, but its precious away goal was quickly cancelled out at Anfield.
Origi pulled a goal back, but, within minutes, Liverpool found themselves two goals adrift once more with Marco Reus curling a delightful finish past Simon Mignolet. And it was as Liverpool completed a turnaround that will become a touchstone for the Klopp era with goals from Philippe Coutinho, Mamadou Sakho and the late drama from Lovren. At 4-4, Dortmund was set to advance on away goals until Lovren powered in the header a minute into injury time.
The win over Dortmund takes Liverpool one step closer to the final and, perhaps more importantly, to the UEFA Champions League ticket that awaits the victor of this year’s Europa League.
“When we scored the first goal we all felt it would be a special moment”.
The Bundesliga side led 3-1 in the second leg of the quarter-final tie with 30 minutes to play, giving them a 4-2 aggregate advantage over their hosts.
Watching the drama unfold from inside a hospital, Liverpool fan Michael beamed as he told BBC 5 live: “I’m going to call him Dejan”. And it was really nice to see with each goal how we came back in the game.
Lovren and Sakho overcame a poor start to the evening in defence to make a vital intervention at the other end of the field, and the Frenchman said it was “important to win for the Liverpool country”. A mosaic was held up in the Kop to read “96” and a minute’s silence was held to mark the eve of the 27th anniversary of the Hillsborough stadium disaster when 96 Liverpool supporters were killed at an FA Cup semifinal.
The German, however, is managing expectations regarding winning the tournament, which comes with a ticket to next season’s Champions League.
“Very often in football the game is over then but not here, not with this Liverpool team”.
When asked whether Liverpool would go on to win the competition Klopp remained coy, saying: “The Spanish teams are stronger”.
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Klopp was a man possessed on the touchline, waving his arms to demand greater encouragement for his players, pointing at his mouth while facing the fans to demand even more noise.
