Borussia Dortmund vs Liverpool Tickets

These two sides are well known, not just for the respective impacts the respective teams have made in Europe (and, of course, domestically), but also due to the passionate nature of their massive fanbases.

The Westfalenstadion is one of those stadiums that fans adore and is very much the nadir of the modern game. Week in, week out, over 80,000 crowd into the stadium for Borussia Dortmund home games, and the global reach of the club means that supporters travel the world over to experience the buzz of being there. This is, of course, doubly enticing for a key European battle, such as for the visit of an iconic team like Liverpool. Then there are the connections that exist between the two teams, adding even more flavour to the tie.

Borussia Dortmund first qualified for the European Cup in 1956/57, the second season that the competition had run, and they were beaten by Manchester United in the First Round; the following year, they got to the Quarter-Finals before AC Milan easily eliminated them.

1963/64 saw the team take an extra step further, losing to Internazionale in the Semi-Finals before they then experienced a thirty-year break from the competition due to their inability to secure a Bundesliga crown in the intervening period.

Their return in 1995/96 saw Die Borussen reach the Quarter-Finals, where they lost to Ajax, but the following year, they soared all the way to the final, impressively beating Manchester United in the Semi-Finals.

In the final, they met Juventus, and a brace from Karl-Heinze Riedle and a third from substitute Lars Ricken gave Borussia Dortmund their first UEFA Champions League success.

The following year they were knocked out by Real Madrid in the Semi-Finals; their form in the tournament, when they did manage to qualify in the early 2000s, was pretty poor until Jurgen Klopp took his side all the way to another final; this time in 2012/13 where they met Bayern Munich at Wembley Stadium.

Mario Mandzukic gave Bayern the lead on the hour, but Ilkay Gundogan leveled eight minutes later before Dutch winger Arjen Robben scored a late winner to hand the trophy to Jupp Heynckes' team.

Between 2013/14 and 2016/17, Borussia Dortmund suffered exits in the knockout phases, and in 2020/21, it was Manchester City who knocked them out in the Quarter-Finals.

Liverpool, on the other hand, have a far more prolific record in the competition, both in the European Cup format and the rebranded UEFA Champions League.

It was the great Bob Paisley who led the Anfield side to their first European Cup, coming in 1977 following a final win over Borussia Monchengladbach, and the following year they repeated the trick by beating Club Brugge.

Paisley made it a hat-trick of successes in 1981 when Real Madrid were taken down, and Joe Fagan, in his first season in charge of Liverpool, won the competition again in 1984, beating AS Roma on penalties before surrendering the title to Juventus the following year.

It took another twenty years to taste success in the competition, with Rafa Benitez masterminding an astonishing comeback to beat AC Milan on penalties after being 3-0 down at half-time, with the Spaniard being in his debut season on Merseyside.

It was Jurgen Klopp, this time with Liverpool, who managed the Premier League club to their sixth crown, his side beating Tottenham in a one-sided final, having produced an all-mighty comeback to beat FC Barcelona in the Semi-Finals.

Borussia Dortmund vs Liverpool Head-to-Head

These two sides have met a few times in competitive European action, the first such meeting coming in the UEFA European Cup Winners’ Cup Final in 1966, a game in which the German side won 2-1 at Hampden Park in Glasgow. Reinhard Libuda fired home a long-range effort to win the game in extra time.

In 2001/02, the two sides were drawn in the same UEFA Champions League group stage, with the Westfalenstadion clash ending goalless and the Anfield return ending in a 2-0 win for Gerard Houllier’s side, with goals from Vladimir Smicer and Stephen Wright doing the honours.

The third meeting came in the UEFA Europa League Quarter-Finals in 2015/16. Jurgen Klopp had only recently joined Liverpool, having previously managed Borussia Dortmund, and he secured safe passage to the last four following a nervy 5-4 aggregate win.

The first leg ended in a 1-1 draw, and Dortmund found themselves 3-1 up at Anfield after an hour, making them huge favourites to progress. However, Liverpool fired back with goals from Philippe Coutinho, Mamadou Sakho, and Dejan Lovren to complete a memorable success.

Borussia Dortmund vs Liverpool Connections

A number of individuals have represented both clubs, including Czech Republic winger Patrik Berger, Swiss defender Philipp Degen and forward Karl-Heinz Riedle.

Clearly, however, the most famous alumni of both teams is successful manager Jurgen Klopp. During a seven-year stint at Borussia Dortmund, Klopp won two Bundesliga titles and took the club to a UEFA Champions League Final.

He left the club in June 2015 before joining Liverpool in October of the same year. Over the course of his first eight seasons, he helped the club secure their first domestic title in over thirty years as well as earning FA Cup and League Cup successes as well as, of course, a UEFA Champions League triumph in 2018/19.