Liverpool FC 2-3 Borussia Dortmund
NOTRE DAME, IN—As far as preseason friendlies go, this was a fairly competitive match. A crowd of 40,231 came to Notre Dame Stadium to see Champions of Europe Liverpool FC take on Borussia Dortmund of the Bundesliga. In the end, two goals in five minutes ended up being the difference for BVB as they emerged 3-2 winners on a hot and humid night at Notre Dame.
Dortmund had played two nights before in Seattle (a 3-1 win), but they showed no wear early on as Paco Alcacer gave BVB the lead in just the third minute after the Reds fail to clear lines on a cross.
Marwin Hitz made a couple of fantastic saves in the first half, but could not stop Harry Wilson’s shot in the 35th minute after he received a thru-ball from Fabinho.
In the second half, BVB made nine changes to start the second half keeping Hitz and Mats Hummels on, while Liverpool maintained their starting eleven. BVB would go on to score twice in a five-minute span. Thomas Delaney had a tap-in on 53 minutes after Thorgan Hazard took advantage of a disorganized Liverpool defense. Five minutes later, Jacob Bruun Larsen made it 3-1 on a pass from Marius Wolf.
Jurgen Klopp changed all ten of his outfield platers at the hour mark as intended including bringing in Virgil Van Dijk and Jordan Henderson. It was Ben Woodburn would draw a penalty in the 75th minute after he was bundled over by Mateu Morey. Rhian Brewster stepped up to take the spot kick and made it 3-2.
“[Henderson] was walking but he asked if I wanted it and I said, ‘Yeah’. He said, ‘Go on’. I picked my spot and hit it there,” said Brewster.
“It’s good to score again but it’s just good to get more minutes and get fitter and fitter each time.”
That was as close as the Reds got as Dortmund got their second win on their second straight tour of the USA.
While Klopp gave high marks for Notre Dame Stadium, he was not a fan the pitch which was grass over a Turf Field surface for the Fighting Irish.
“It’s a brilliant stadium, the whole facility is brilliant,” said Klopp. “The pitch was difficult because it’s not a soccer pitch; they put grass on it and everybody tries their best but at the end you saw, these two teams can play much better football but it’s difficult when the ball is not rolling because it’s an important part of the game that the ball rolls. Apart from that, it’s an incredible place. Whoever didn’t know it, come to Notre Dame, it’s brilliant.”
BVB coach Lucian Favre said that his players not ready to go 90 minutes at this point and thus the wholesale changes in the last two friendlies.
“It was okay for us,” said Favre. “We played with two teams against Seattle. After 60 minutes, we changed [teams]. And today, we had to play with two teams twice in 45 minutes. Nobody’s ready to play 90 minutes. Mats Hummels played (80) minutes because we had no central defender. It’s impossible for the players to play 90 minutes. We need more time [to get players 90 minutes match fit].”
Liverpool head to Boston on Sunday and Fenway Park to take on La Liga’s Sevilla. Kickoff is at 5pm CT. BVB travel back to Europe and face Udinese next Friday.
SCORING SUMMARY:
BVB-Paco Alcacer (unassisted) 3
LFC-Harry Wilson (Fabinho) 35
BVB-Thomas Delaney (Hazard) 53
BVB-Jacob Bruun Larsen (Wolf) 58
LFC-Rhian Brewster (penalty kick) 75
BOOKING SUMMARY:
BVB-Mats Hummels (caution, reckless tackle) 11
LFC-Yasser Laurouci (caution, tactical foul) 43
LFC-Rhian Brewster (caution, reckless tackle) 84
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): #22-Simon Mignolet; #2-Nathaniel Clyne (#66-Trent Alexander-Arnold 60), #32-Joel Matip (#4-Virgil Van Dijk 60), #12-Joe Gomez (#6-Dejan Lovern 60), #65-Yasser Larouci (#26-Andy Robertson 60); #21-Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (#5-Georginio Wijnaldum 60), #3-Fabinho (#14-Jordan Henderson 60), #7-James Milner (#46-Adam Lewis 60); #59-Harry Wilson (#48-Curtis Jones 60), #27-Divock Origi (#24-Rhian Brewster 60), #40-Ryan Kent (#58-Ben Woodburn 60)
Subs not used: #47-Nathaniel Phillips, #51-Ki-Jana Hoever, #52-Daniel Atherton, #75-Andy Longergan
BORUSSIA DORTMUND (4-2-3-1): #35-Marwin Hitz; #26-Lukasz Piszczek (#22-Mateu Morey 46), #15-Mats Hummels (#39-Manuel Pherai 80), #36-Omer Toprak (#18-Leonardo Balerdi 46), #13-Raphael Guerrero (#14-Nico Schulz 46); #38-Giovanni Reyna (#27-Marius Wolf 46), #33-Julian Weigl (#28-Alex Witsel 46); #19-Julian Brandt (#34-Jacob Bruun Larsen 46), #10-Mario Götze, #7-Jadon Sancho (#23-Thorgan Hazard 46); #9-Paco Alcacer (#6-Thomas Delaney 46)
Subs not used: #40-Eric Oelschlägel, #20-Maximilian Philipp, #47-Tobias Raschl
TOTAL SHOTS: LFC 12-9 BVB
SHOTS ON GOAL: LFC 5-6 BVB
FOULS: LFC 8-5 BVB
OFFSIDES: LFC 2-4 BVB
CORNER KICKS: LFC 4-2 BVB
SAVES: LFC 3-3 BVB
Referee: Nima Saghafi
Assistant Referees: Jeffrey Swartzel Art Arustamayan
Fourth Official: Adam Behrens
Weather: Sunny and 92º
Attendance: 40,361
Liverpool
Borussia Dortmund
