Match Report
Koller scores late header: Legends draw 2-2 with Liverpool
The BVB Legends travelled to Liverpool as early as Friday and visited the BVB fan HQ together with around 300 Black & Yellow supporters. Prior to that, the team had taken a tour of the stadium on Anfield Road. The walking football teams from both clubs also came together for a friendly match.
On Saturday afternoon, Legends Week finally reached its climax with the friendly match at a sold-out Anfield. Liverpool fielded a host of former world-class stars such as Steven Gerrard, Peter Crouch and Thiago Alcantara. There were also a few changes to the BVB squad from the match against Benfica. The Polish legends Kuba and Lukasz Piszczek were two of the new additions to the line-up coached by Jörg Heinrich and Nobby Dickel.
Even before kick-off, there were numerous emotional reunions on the pitch at Anfield. Jürgen Klopp, who was managing the Reds, stood on the touchline and greeted many of his former Black & Yellow teammates during the pre-match walk-out. The fans of both clubs provided another spine-tingling moment when they joined together to sing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.
On the pitch, the first half was dominated by the home side. Much of the play went through Thiago Alcántara in central midfield, who retired from playing only two years ago and, at 34, was one of the youngest players on the pitch. Therefore, as might have been expected, it was Thiago who put Liverpool ahead after just six minutes.
BVB tried to make their attacking play more structured but struggled against the Reds’ compact defence. After 34 minutes, Liverpool icon Steven Gerrard found himself one-on-one with Roman Weidenfeller, but the 2014 World Cup winner made a superb save. Shortly afterwards, Jay Spearing (38) made it 2-0 with a superb long-range shot into the top corner.
There were plenty of substitutions on both sides in the second half, ensuring that all the players got some playing time. Borussia got more into the game and pulled one back in the 63rd minute when Mohamed Zidan finished coolly to make it 1-2. That was his second goal of Legends Week following his strike against Benfica.
In the closing stages, BVB pushed for an equaliser but failed to capitalise on several good chances through Valdez and Leitner. After 81 minutes, however, the moment finally arrived as Moritz Leitner delivered a delicate cross onto the head of the 2.02-metre-tall Jan Koller, and the Czech nodded it in superbly, reminiscent his former days in the Black & Yellow shirt. However, the focus was on a match characterised primarily by joy, many reunions and great mutual respect.
Liverpool Legends: Pepe Reina, Jerzy Dudek, Sander Westerveld, Sami Hyypiä, Fabio Aurelio, Gregory Vignal, Martin Kelly, Martin Skrtel, Ragnar Klavan, Stephen Wright, Igor Biscan, Yossi Benayoun, Steven Gerrard, Louise Schillgard, Vladimir Smicer, Jay Spearing, Albert Riera, Thiago Alcantara, Florent Sinama Pongolle, Jermaine Pennant, Ryan Babel, Mark Gonzalez, Peter Crouch, Natasha Dowie, Dirk Kuyt
BVB Legends: Roman Weidenfeller, Young-Pyo Lee, Moritz Leitner, Antonio da Silva, Nelson Valdez, Jan Koller, Mohamed Zidan, Karl-Heinz Riedle, Paul Lambert, Kuba, Dede, Jörg Heinrich, Kevin Großkreutz, Oliver Kirch, Mitch Langerak, Patrick Owomoyela, Lukasz Piszczek, Marcel Schmelzer, Erik Durm