Liverpool held but Sevilla, Donetsk win away
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JUERGEN Klopp’s Liverpool held Borussia Dortmund to a 1-1 draw on his return to his former club for the first leg of their Europa League quarterfinal, while two-time defending champion Sevilla and Shakhtar Donetsk won away on Thursday.
Liverpool forward Divock Origi scored against the run of play in the first half, and Dortmund captain Mats Hummels headed in the equalizer just after the break.
Dortmund keeper Roman Weidenfeller made vital saves to deny Klopp a winning return to the stadium where he spent seven largely successful years.
Klopp, who led Dortmund to back-to-back Bundesliga titles, the German Cup and a Champions League final appearance, was given a warm welcome.
“I thought the respectful quiet applause was perfect, no singing, no calling,” Klopp said. “For the 90 minutes I was completely in the game. Afterward, I was happy that I could hug the lads again.”
Sevilla substitute Vicente Iborra struck with seven minutes remaining to put his side in a commanding position with a 2-1 victory at Spanish rival Athletic Bilbao.
It was Sevilla’s first away win in six European matches.
Shakhtar defeated Braga 2-1, and Villarreal defeated visiting Sparta Prague 2-1 thanks to a pair from Cedric Bakambu.
Origi stunned the Dortmund fans in the 36th minute after being played through with a header from James Milner. Origi’s shot took a slight deflection off Lukasz Piszczek’s heel and inside the left post.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Marco Reus went close as Dortmund sensed an equalizer, but Origi should have scored again before the break when he was denied by Weidenfeller.
Hummels ensured Dortmund stayed unbeaten in 18 competitive games this season when he met Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s floated cross with a good header.
But the home side was grateful to Weidenfeller for a string of saves, the first a brilliant low one-handed stop to brilliantly deny Philippe Coutinho.
Dortmund will be the visitor in the return leg next week. “We want to be the first German team to win at Anfield,” Hummels said.
Sevilla made the better start in Bilbao with Ever Banega hitting the post and Iago Herrerin saving from Vitolo.
Bilbao recovered and Aritz Aduriz hit the post before Iker Muniain went agonizingly close to breaking the deadlock.
Muniain set up Aduriz to score his competition-leading ninth goal two minutes into the second half, but Timothee Kolodziejczak equalized soon after following a mistake from the Bilbao captain. Muniain’s poor header back to his goalkeeper was intercepted by Banega, who set up Kolodziejczak. Iborra scored the winner nine minutes later.
In Portugal, Yaroslav Rakitskiy scored after a corner with a volley that hit the ground and took a slight deflection to beat Braga ‘keeper Matheus before the break. It was the visitors’ first attempt on target.
Facundo Ferreyra put Shakhtar in the driving seat for the second leg with 15 minutes remaining, though Wilson Eduardo scored in the last minute to give Braga some hope.
Fans make Klopp’s return a special affair
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp received a rapturous, emotional welcome on his return to Borussia Dortmund on Thursday, the occasion marked by a spine-tingling rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’
Around 65,000 fans of both teams filled the air in the Westfalenstadion with the stirring hymn marking a fitting return for Klopp who spent seven seasons at the Bundesliga club before leaving for Anfield last year. A smiling Klopp warmly greeted his former players as they prepared for the Europa League quarterfinal.
‘Kloppo’ also smilingly saluted the Yellow Wall of Dortmund fans, banked high behind the goal on the south terrace.
“It’s a very special moment. I can’t be unmoved by it,” the 48-year-old coach told Sky of a club where he was in charge from 2008 to 2015. However, he admitted it was strange walking into the visitors dressing room rather than the home side’s.
“I didn’t know what they looked like,” he smiled although he had been there before — back in his days as coach of Bundesliga side Mainz, where he worked between 2001 and 2008.
“I only had to remind myself when I came in right, instead of left for the dressing room,” he told BT Sport.
Once ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ — performed movingly inside the cavernous arena — was completed, the track-suited Klopp embraced his successor Thomas Tuchel as a huge group of photographers camped in front of the dug-out.
“All the stories around, maybe the media created it a little bit but not a Dortmund player or manager or Liverpool player or manager,” Klopp said. “For the team it is not a big difference, the team only has to think about what it has to do in the game.”
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