Three days ahead of their Supercup clash with Bayern Munich Borussia Dortmund suffered their first pre-season defeat in their eighth game. A sell out crowd at Anfield saw BVB go down 4-0 (2-0) to Champions League qualifiers Liverpool.

 

Reporting from Liverpool, Boris Rupert

46,000 (including 1,000 BVB fans) sang the epic football hymn “You’ll Never Walk Alone” which was real goose bump stuff. The game was an echo of a fabled meeting between the two clubs in the 1966 European Cup Winners’ Cup and the home side soon took charge.

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The opening goal came about courtesy of a quick pass, an interception and a break. Sturridge it was who broke down the inside right channel into the box before slotting past Langerak. The ‘keeper had already done well to deny Stirling the opener as early as the fourth minute. But just four minutes after the first, the BVB man was once again hooking the ball out of the net when the Australian seemed to be impeded coming out for a corner allowing Lovren’s header to find the net. The referee did not give the foul and signalled ‘goal’. Just before the break Langerak was again to the fore as he punched away a Gerrard free-kick for a corner.

The Reds set about the Black n Yellows with fast direct football. Adopting a 4-1-4-1 formation in the first half, Sterling down the left was a persistent irritant. It was not until halfway through the half that BVB got a foothold in the game but were still not in anyway threatening.

Borussia made several changes for the second half with Bender, Hofmann and Immobile replacing Kehl, Kirch and Ramos. The formation changed too, as BVB lined up 4-4-2 with Bender holding, Jojic and Mkhitaryan further forward and Hofmann pushed forward. But a third goal quickly fell when Coutinho snuck a shot in from an acute angle. Henderson added a fourth on the hour mark whilst just the one notable chance at the other end saw Stirling clear a Sokratis header from the line on 66 minutes.

BVB were still without Weidenfeller and Hummels who had only resumed training on Saturday as well as the likes of Reus, Gündogan, Blaszczykowski and Sahin. By the end of the game Klopp had almost changed an entire team.

BVB: Langerak – Piszczek (58. Großkreutz), Sokratis (81. Sarr), Ginter, Schmelzer (81. Knystock) – Kehl (46. Bender) – Aubameyang (71. Bandowski), Jojic (76. Amini), Kirch (46. Hofmann), Mkhitaryan (63. Ji) – Ramos (46. Immobile)

Goals: 1:0 Sturridge (10.), 2:0 Lovren (14.), 3:0 Coutinho (48.), 4:0 Henderson (61.)

Attendance: 46,000 (sold out)