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A fine result for Liverpool,
and one that was matched by the performance. They had less of the ball
but more of the chances, and have a fine opportunity to create an
Anfield Glory Night in a week’s time. Thanks for your company, night!
85 min Sturridge goes on a fine slalom into the Dortmund box before Hummels makes a good tackle. Liverpool could still nick this. Dortmund are dominating but in a sterile manner.
83 min
“Riquelme as the ultimate ‘beauty for beauty’s sake’ player, too
languid and beautiful for this world, is not among football’s
sweeter-smelling cliches, is it?” says Phil Podolsky. “There’ve been too
many more exciting and imaginative playmakers for Riquelme idolatry to
have ground in reality, IMHO. At the end of the day, he wasn’t good
enough for the best team he played for.” Yes but sometimes there’s a man...
82 min
Dortmund don’t look like scoring, for all their possession. This has
been an excellent night’s work from Liverpool: it hasn’t been
comfortable, but then it’s Dortmund away. It’s been more comfortable
than most expected.
Nathaniel Clyne clears the ball from Marcel Schmelzer. Photograph: Stuart Franklin/Bongarts/Getty Images
80 min Castro’s curling shot from the right of
the area is beaten away by Mignolet. He has only had one really
difficult save to make tonight. Liverpool break and Papastathopoulos is booked for a foul on Origi.
79 min Moreno goes in two footed on Pulisic, an
absurd tackle that could have brought at least a yellow card. It was
naive rather than nasty, but even so.
78 minLiverpool bring on Firmino for Lallana. “The
Dude’s favourite player would be Winston Bogarde,” says James Beesley,
“surely.” Imagine if Chelsea had paid Bogarde in laundry. The whites.
76 min “Were
Klopp’s Dortmund the nearest thing we impoverished millennials have to
Danish Dynamite?” asks Daniel Baird. “Highly explosive, slightly
offbeat, successful but not *too* successful?” Yes, I suppose they
were: power, skill, swagger, haircuts. Colombia 2014 as well, in spirit
if not style. But the best comparison is unquestionably Lokomotiv
Moscow reserves circa 2011.
73 min Before the game, Jurgen Klopp would
probably have sacrificed a couple of the Dortmund tea ladies for a 1-1
draw. He still would, yet there is a nagging feeling that Liverpool could nick this. I’d get Sturridge on certainly.
72 min “Mr.
Lebowski strikes me as someone who loves the strollers and idlers,”
says Christoper Faherty. “His favourtie player would be Riquelme, and he
would abhor gegenpressing. This aggression will not stand, man. It’s
killing the game Rob!” His favourite player ever? Mr Matthew Le Tissier.
68 min
“Hey Rob,” says Daniel Johnson, “I guess we have to wait until the end
of the game to find out the real answer to the eternal question posed by
the tv edit of Big Lebowski. The alps are kinda near Dortmund, right?”
65 min “Re. your comment at 56 mins:
Is this actually an empty threat?” says Sarah Rothwell. “Would they
allow you to present Match of the Day in the first place?” There are
ways. You don’t wanna know about it, believe me.
64 min Gorgeous football from Dortmund. Hummels
flicks a long pass down the inside-left channel with the outside of his
left foot to Castro, who turns it back inside to Reus, 15 yards from
goal. He tries a short-range chip over Sakho, but there isn’t quite
enough room to work with and it hits Sakho on the shoulder. It was,
nonetheless, wonderfully imaginative from the post-Iniesta genius that
is Reus.
63 min “I got excited by the half-time score,
and came to the pub to watch the second half,” says Matt Dony, telling
us nothing whatsoever about tactics. “It’s a small pub with a tv either
end of the room, one showing football, one showing golf, with the
clientele split perfectly down the middle by age and apparent class.
(Chinos to the left, Crown Paints Liverpool
shirts to the right.) I’m sat on the golf side, but watching the
football. Class warrior. Breaking down barriers. I might start singing
some Billy Bragg.”
61 min “I think it’s probably best Rob leaves
tactics alone,” says Ronan Heffernan. “Much like that other great Big
Lebowski character - Donnie - he’d be out of his f%#king element.”
59 min Schmelzer
belies his 94 years by running 40 yards to the edge of the area before
falling over Lovren. The referee gives a free-kick, though the decision
could have gone either way. It’s just outside the D, to the left of
centre: Reus clips it over the wall and Mignolet makes a comfortable
save as he plunges to his right.
Marco Reus curls the ball over the wall, but straight into the hands of Mignolet. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
51 min That’s a stunning save from Weidenfeller! Liverpool
put together a gorgeous one-touch move involving Origi, Allen, Lallana
and finally Coutinho, whose fierce low shot from the edge of the area
was brilliantly saved by Weidenfeller plunging to his right. Then,
before I’d finished typing the above, he made two more vital saves from
Coutinho and (I think) Clyne.
50 min
“In answer to that bloke Mark’s question,” says Kevin Ryan, “I would
quote the great man: ‘I’ve got certain information, man. New sh-t has
come to light.....’”
A
tactical triumph for Thomas Tuchel, as Dortmund equalise from a corner.
It was played short and curled in by Mkhitaryan towards Hummels, who
got a run on Lallana and headed through Mignolet from six yards.
Terrible defending from Liverpool.
Mats Hummels beats Lallana to the ball and heads in the equaliser. Photograph: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters
“Morning Rob,” says Phil Withall. “Mark’s pithy
comment is fair. I will expect you to lay out a Subbuteo pitch and
upload images of starting positions, tactical changes and other
incidents of import throughout the game to assist those that are without
television coverage.”
“They’re both playing 4-2-3-1 and pressing high,” says Mark, quoting my earlier entry. “Rob, Who offers more information: A. PM Cameron on Daddy’s money? B. Guardian Rob on the tactics of Klopp and Tuchel? Discuss.” What do you want, a diagram?
Divock Origi comes close but is thwarted by Weidenfeller. Photograph: John Powell/Liverpool FC/Getty Images
The half ends with Origi missing a one-on-one! After all that Dortmund pressure, Liverpool
broke and Moreno ran 30 yards before slipping the ball through to
Origi. He was possibly offside but it didn’t matter because Weidenfeller
charged from his goal to make a vital save. He then got himself booked
by shouting at the referee about the offside, or possibly a foul at the
other end.
A frustrated Roman Weidenfeller remonstrates with referee Carlos Velasco
Carballo before being given a yellow card. Photograph: Wolfgang
Rattay/Reuters
45+3 min Another goal-saving block, this time
from Lovren! Mkhitaryan played a beautiful, surprise through pass to
Aubameyang, who slid to divert the ball towards the far corner – a bit
like Marco van Basten against West Germany in 1988, though from closer
in. It would have beaten Mignolet but Lovren tracked him all the way to
deflect it behind. From the resulting corner, Mignolet made a fine save
from Reus!
40 min “Hello
Rob, and as I can’t watch the match to see for myself could you post
something about how Klopp and Tuchel are approaching it from a tactical
point of view please?” says Michael Cosgrove. “That’s one of the more
fascinating aspects of the match imho.” They’re both playing 4-2-3-1 and pressing high.
39 min
Coutinho runs at Piszczek in the box and goes down. There was a bit of
bodily contact but probably not enough for a penalty. But suddenly Liverpool all over Dortmund, and Clyne plays a brilliant one-two with Lallana before his shot is blocked desperately by Bender!
Coutinho goes down in the box under a challenge from Lukasz Piszczek, nothing given. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA
38 min That goal wasn’t against the run of play; it was an affront to the run of play. After an even 30 minutes, Liverpool had been under all kinds of pressure.
After all Dortmund’s smooth football,Liverpool
score with the simplest of goals. A ball infield from the left was
headed forward by Henderson towards Origi. He was tracked by the last
man Piszczek as he ran into the area, but he steadied himself and hit a
low shot that deflected off Piszczek and wide of Weidenfeller.
Origi celebrates with teammates. Photograph: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters
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