I simply don’t have any words to describe this game. I will say sorry now for doing this article with such a fan view, but when you support a team that were 2-0 down, getting knocked out and in the second half turn things around, scoring 4 goals in 45 minutes, I can’t do it in another way.
Feeling the atmosphere at Anfield, even watching from Brazil, I knew this game would be different. The mosaic for the Hillsborough victims was one of the best I’ve seen in my entire life watching football. The minute of silence was the best I’ve seen in my life. The fans from both teams singing You’ll Never Walk Alone was of the most beautiful things I’ve heard.
If I would write all my feelings about this game, it would be an immense text, so I will start the review now.
The players really felt the pressure in the first half:
It was one of the most shambolic first half I’ve seen from Liverpool this season, the defence was terrible and Aubameyang took advantage of that. He created the first goal having a shot from outside the box well saved by Mignolet, but on the rebound Mkhitaryan scored to put Dortmund in front. Minutes later, Reus played a through ball to Aubameyang who caught Sakho from behind, and he finished really well in the near post.
My friend is a Dortmund fan and when they made it 2-0, I said to him that it would be really hard to come back from 2-0 down and win the game, but I said that we still were in it.
Liverpool created some chances everyone could feel that but Liverpool wasn’t keen on getting back into the game, and I never wanted a half to end like I wanted today.
I don’t know what Klopp said to the players, but it was good:
Liverpool came back from the break with another attitude. Divock Origi was the first person to show that. After a good pass that put Origi through on goal, he finished in good composure and put Liverpool back in the game. But just before Marco Reus fired in for Dortmund and restore the two goal advantage.
Philippe Coutinho scored another goal for Liverpool, in a Coutinho style goal, curling the ball into the bottom right corner. In this moment I celebrated quietly, and my attitude in the whole game was to believe until the end and I kept it.
Mamadou Sakho equalised the game from a corner, after being left alone in the box, all he needed to do was to head the ball in. Honestly, I screamed really loud and the whole game was starting to pass in my head, like a movie and I thought: Can we win?
Moments later, my question had an answer when James Milner put the ball into the box, and Dejan Lovren became the hero of the night and the hero of a possible Europa League title. It was the best comeback of Liverpool’s history since Istanbul, and will be a day that will stay with me forever.
There was negatives, but the positives are more valueable:
Obviously there was negatives, and a lot of them. Our team is not one of the best, so we make mistakes. But what we can take from positives in this game is much more valuable. We have seen that our players are real warriors, even with the bad things they show in each game. Even if we don’t have the players we had in other days, this team still has the Liverpool spirit.
The fans:
The fans were amazing. They gave the belief to the players and seeing the result and how the game ended, it worked. If I needed to choose a man of the match, I couldn’t do it, because all of them were amazing.
What the managers said:
Jürgen Klopp:
“It is difficult to explain. A wonderful, wonderful night at Anfield and to be honest the game was strange.
“When we brought Daniel Sturridge and Joe Allen on we gave them the message, ‘we have to show character.’ I don’t care if we lose, we have to show them and we did even more. This is European football at its best. It’s hard to believe. Congratulations to all of the lads.
“At half-time it’s difficult to stay brave but we agreed that the we had to go the hard way. It is a game that all fans – even not of Liverpool or Dortmund – can say, OK, football is a nice game.”
Thomas Tuchel:
“I can’t explain it, it was not logical. It was very emotional. At the end at 3-3 everyone here believed it was meant to be, it was destiny.
“If you have such a strong belief then things can happen. We had a goal and we have not achieved it. Sport is about wining and we did not make it. You have to accept it and be an honourable loser so congratulations to Liverpool. You have to take defeat like a champion.”
All the credit to the players for showing an amazing character, to our brilliant manager, and to the Dortmund fans and players for making this night even more special.
I see you in the next post,
Goodbye.
Gabriel Coelho
The Final Whistle 