Liverpool vs Borussia Dortmund Tickets

Liverpool are, without a doubt, one of the most successful club sides in the history of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League. As of 2023, only AC Milan and Real Madrid have won the competition on more occasions, and their tally of six successes and four additional finals is something the Anfield side will be looking to add to this season.

The 1970s and early 80s, when Liverpool were, of course, dominating the English game, were when the Merseyside outfit were in their pomp.

Having won the UEFA Cup in 1973, the second to last season of Bill Shankly’s lengthy reign in charge of Liverpool, his replacement, Bob Paisley, set about collecting the ultimate prize in European club football.

He started by repeating Shankly’s success by winning the UEFA Cup in 1975/76 and then took the club’s first European Cup crown in 1976/77. Liverpool overcame Saint-Etienne in a now infamous Quarter-Final before beating FC Zurich to secure a final berth against Borussia Monchengladbach.

Terry McDermott put Liverpool ahead in Rome before Alan Simonsen, who went on to win the Ballon d’Or in 1977, equalized for the Germans. Unfettered, Paisley’s side won the game thanks to second-half goals from Tommy Smith and Phil Neal.

1978 saw the club retain their title by beating Club Brugge in the final. Liverpool returned to the final in 1981; this time, Spanish giants Real Madrid awaited them in Paris.

A cagey game was settled with eight minutes to go when Alan Kennedy fired home, and Paisley became the first manager to win three European Cup titles. He left the role two years later, but his replacement proved an instant success.

Joe Fagan not only won an English Championship in 1983/84, but he also took another European Cup, this one coming after a penalty shoot out against AS Roma, with the final coincidentally taking place at their home ground, the Stadio Olimpico.

It took another twenty years for Liverpool to once again win the trophy, this time doing so long after the rebranding of the cup to its current title, the UEFA Champions League.

In their two previous attempts at the tournament, in 2001/02 and 2002/03, Liverpool struggled to make an impact, being eliminated in the Quarter Final in their first attempt and failing to get out of the group stage in their second.

Rafa Benitez made up for those relative failures by previous Liverpool managers, winning the cup in his first season in charge of the club. That victory did not look likely after the first 45 minutes in Istanbul.

Paolo Maldini gave AC Milan the lead when he volleyed in a Andrea Pirlo free-kick within the first minute of the game. With five minutes to go before the break, Hernan Crespo made it 2-0 and then added a third just before half-time.

Benitez must have said something truly inspirational at the break because Liverpool came out in aggressive fashion and, within 16 minutes, were amazingly level.

Steven Gerrard headed in nine minutes into the second half, Vladimir Smicer got another from long range on 56 minutes, and then just after the hour, Xabi Alonso scored after his initial penalty was saved by Dida.

AC Milan had chances to win the game, but Jerzy Dudek was in inspired form, and the Polish keeper then saved two penalties in the shoot-out while Serginho skied his, meaning Liverpool had pulled off a remarkable recovery to win their fifth title.

Jurgen Klopp brought home the club’s sixth success in 2018/19 when they eased past Tottenham in a 2-0 win in Madrid.

Their opponents Borussia Dortmund have had a solid record in the competition also, albeit not in the same realm as Liverpool’s.

The Westfalenstadion side reached the Semi-Finals in their third European Cup campaign in 1963/64, and in 1996/97, they reached their first UEFA Champions League final, where they faced Juventus in Munich.

Ottmar Hitzfeld’s side overcame the Serie A giants, with Karl-Heinz Riedle scoring twice and Lars Ricken grabbing the key third barely a minute after coming on as a sub.

2012/13 saw them once again get to the final; this time, they suffered the ignominy of losing to arch-rivals Bayern Munich, with Arjen Robben scoring a late winner at Wembley Stadium.

Liverpool vs Borussia Dortmund Head-to-Head

The first time these two sides met in Europe was in the 1965/66 UEFA European Cup Winners’ Cup Final. Siggi Held gave Dortmund the lead at Hampden Park, but Roger Hunt scored soon after, and the game went to extra time.

In the 107th minute, Reinhard Libuda broke the deadlock with a 35-yard effort that somehow managed to end up in the back of the net.

In 2001, they were drawn together in the UEFA Champions League group stage, and the first meeting in Germany ended without a goal and the return at Anfield went the home side’s way thanks to goals from Vladimir Smicer and Stephen Wright.

In 2015/16, in the UEFA Europa League, Liverpool and Dortmund met in the Quarter-Finals, and Jurgen Klopp, who had recently left the German side to take over at Anfield, emerged the victor.

The first leg ended 1-1 in Dortmund, and the second leg saw Liverpool pull off an astonishing recovery. They were 3-1 down on the night, 4-2 on aggregate, with 24 minutes left on the clock when goals from Philippe Coutinho, Mamadou Sakho and Dejan Lovren secured a famous win.

Liverpool vs Borussia Dortmund Connections

A number of key individuals have represented both Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund, including Czech Republic legend Patrik Berger, Karl-Heinz Riedle, Philipp Degen, Emre Can, and Nuri Sahin.

By far, the most notable alumni of both teams is, though, Jurgen Klopp. The former Mainz player took over as manager of Die Borussen in 2008, and he led the team to a [Bundesliga])/german-bundesliga-tickets) title in 2010/11, their first in almost a decade.

He repeated the feat a season later, and in June 2015, he opted to leave the club, and by October, he was in charge at Liverpool. Over the course of the next eight years, he had ended the club’s thirty-year wait for a domestic title and also won the UEFA Champions League, among a host of other honours.

As a result, he is quite rightly well-respected by supporters of both teams.