Borussia Dortmund were shell shocked as Liverpool plundered four goals in the second half to come from behind and claim a 4-3 victory at Anfield in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final.
It was a historic night for Liverpool as second half strikes from Divock Origi, Philippe Coutinho and their two centre-backs Mamadou Sakho and Dejan Lovren helped the Reds complete an incredible comeback. The 4-3 win meant that Liverpool sealed their passage to the Europa League semi-final with an aggregate scoreline of 5-4.
The collapse of Dortmund was remarkable, given they appeared to be cruising to victory at one point. Their captain and star defender Mats Hummels attempted to explain the turn of events following the match.
“When we scored to make it 3-1 we thought we were through,” Hummels said, according to Goal.
“We stopped defending aggressively and stopped playing football when they scored the 3-1. Then we suddenly got the jitters. We gave it away.
“Liverpool would never have come back if we would have continued to play our socks off after we scored the 3-1. We should have made the opponent chase the ball. Instead we just lost touch too often in defence. We just can’t concede goals like that, that was too easy for them. This defeat is the one that hurts the most this season.”
Stunning comeback against complacent defence
Liverpool managed to come back into the game early in the second half thanks to a Divock Origi goal in the 48th minute. Their relief was short lived though, as Marco Reus scored nine minutes later to make the score 3-1. The Reds had their backs to the wall then, but instead of being crushed, used it to pounce back on their German opponents in emphatic fashion.
Dortmund went on to concede three goals in the final 25 minutes of the game, as their tired defence looked complacent in the final quarter of the game. A goal from Philippe Coutinho and headers from two Liverpool center-backs were a just reward for the Reds, who dominated the ball and put pressure on their German opponents in the second half.
