Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp firmly believes his side can go through to the semi-finals of the Europa League after they drew the first leg of their quarter-final tie 1-1 away at Borussia Dortmund this evening, while noting many thought his men would be thrashed in Germany.

Dortmund were quick out of the blocks on home turf and instantly put Liverpool on the back foot, pushing the Reds back, deeper and deeper.




Mamadou Sakho blocked a shot in the 18th minute, stopping what looked to be a certain goal from Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Liverpool started to stem the tide and grew into the game, then stunning Dortmund by taking the lead through Divock Origi in the 36th minute. The Belgian took advantage following a flick on from James Milner, controlling it and finishing with a low shot.
 


The Reds held on until half time, when Jordan Henderson was brought off with a knee injury, but Dortmund were quick out of the blocks again after the restart and got their reward in the 48th minute.

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It was Mats Hummels who scored for the home side, the defender losing his marker from a corner and heading past Simon Mignolet.

Liverpool had a big chance to take the lead again, but Philippe Coutinho saw Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller keep his effort out with a world class save; the custodian made three superb saves in a short space of time.

No further goals arrived and it ended 1-1.

Klopp was pleased with his team's display and feels they could well have won it.

He told BT Sport: "Dortmund is a pretty good side and everyone could see that, but we had our moments and we could have won the game.

"I’m pretty sure a lot of people thought we would lose 2, 3 or 4-0. But at some moments we had Dortmund and around our goal we were brilliant", Klopp added.

The German also believes that, while his side are not the finished article like Dortmund, they can still win the tie.

"We are not that far on our way like they are and we cannot at the moment play like they play, but we can defend and score goals so we can win."