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  Europa League: Rousing Reds roll on

Europa League: Rousing Reds roll on

AFP
Published : Apr 16, 2016, 3:11 am IST
Updated : Apr 16, 2016, 3:11 am IST

Liverpool’s Mamadou Sakho (centre) celebrates with team mates Divock Origi (left) and Philippe Coutinho after scoring against Borussia Dortmund in their Europa League quarter-final second leg at the Anfield Stadium in Liverpool on Thursday. Liverpool won 4-3 and advanced to the semi-finals on a 5-4 aggregate. (Photo: AFP)

Liverpool’s Mamadou Sakho (centre) celebrates with team mates Divock Origi (left) and Philippe Coutinho after scoring against Borussia Dortmund in their Europa League quarter-final second leg at the Anfield Stadium in Liverpool on Thursday. Liverpool won 4-3 and advanced to the semi-finals on a 5-4 aggregate. (Photo: AFP)

Dejan Lovren scored a heart-stopping stoppage-time header as Liverpool completed an astonishing comeback to beat Borussia Dortmund 4-3 on Thursday and reach the Europa League semi-finals on a 5-4 aggregate.

Held 1-1 in last week’s first leg at the Westfalen-stadion, Dortmund scored twice in nine minutes through Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to take a firm grip on the tie.

After Divock Origi had given Liverpool a foothold, Marco Reus struck again for the visitors, but goals from Philippe Coutinho and Mamadou Sakho levelled the tie before Lovren headed home in the 91st minute to give former Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp the biggest win of his Anfield tenure.

“It is difficult to explain. A wonderful, wonderful night at Anfield and to be honest the game was strange,” Klopp told BT Sport.

“This is European football at its best. It’s hard to believe. Congratulations to all of the lads.

Liverpool’s stirring rally, which unfurled amid an electrifying Anfield atmosphere, took them into a continental semifinal for the first time since 2010 and kept Klopp on course to end his first season at the club with a trophy.

His successor at Dortmund, Thomas Tuchel, could only look on in disbelief at the final whistle as the 5-4 aggregate scoreline condemned his side to defeat.

Kick-off was preceded by a rousing communal rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone, the two clubs’ anthem, and a solemnly observed minute’s silence to mark the 27th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.

But any sense of sentimentality quickly vanished as Dortmund turned the tie on its head.

Sevilla scrape through to semis Sevilla maintained their quest to win a third straight Europa League crown by ousting fellow Spaniards Athletic Bilbao 5-4 on penalties.

Sevilla joined Liverpool, Shakhtar Donetsk and fellow La Liga outfit Villarreal in the semi-finals despite losing 2-1 at home.

That made it a 3-3 tie on aggregate and after extra-time provided no more goals, the game went to penalties.

Frenchman Kevin Gameiro scored the decisive spot-kick after Benat had his kick for Athletic saved by goalkeeper David Soria.

Location: United Kingdom, England, Liverpool