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Borussia Dortmund 0 Liverpool 0 (ECL Group match) Sep 19 2001
SCORER(S)
HALF TIME 0-0
VENUE WESTFALENSTADION, DORTMUND
DATE WED 19 SEP 2001
STAR MAN MICHAEL OWEN
Report by Dave Usher at Westfalenstadion, Dortmund
I'll keep this short and sweet. When the group stages are complete, this may be a very valuable point for the reds. However, we could also end up ruing the fact that we simply didn't play in this game. Only one team wanted to win this game, and sadly it wasn't us.
This was like the Nou Camp last year, except Dortmund are no Barcelona, and this isn't the UEFA Cup, it's a league. It's ironic that the champions league has a reputation for attacking football, and that away teams usually go to try and win. The fear factor of knockout football has been removed, and by and large most away teams are prepared to have a go. Someone obviously forgot to share this with Gerard.
He said after the game how pleased he was. I'm not surprised he's pleased, after all, the side went out and did exactly the job he told them to do. It was not pleasant to watch though. I could even say that this was like watching paint dry, but to be fair, watching paint dry would have been more exciting than this. I've heard that in Spain when a team plays negatively it is now referred to as 'doing a Liverpool.' The Germans will probably adopt the same phrase in future after this.
I'm not unhappy with a point, as it's not a bad result by any means. The way in which it was achieved however left a lot to be desired. What if Rosicky's shot had gone in rather than hitting the post? Or what if Henchoz's panic attack had resulted in a goal rather a lucky escape via his own post? This was not a great defensive display, it was an adequate one, and we got lucky. Our attacking play was more or less none existant.
Despite that though, I went for Michael as the star man, mainly because nobody else stood out (Sami apart who had pretty good game to be fair). Michael was once again starved of service, yet still looked sharp and gave the Dortmund defenders some uncomfortable moments. I do think it's time that Michael started going down in the box a bit more though (fnaar, fnaar!), as staying on his feet, whilst an admirable quality, has cost him about three or four penalties already in various games this season. There's been a lot of fuss this week about players diving, and how it has to be stamped out. I agree, but when a player stays on his feet after being fouled, he never gets the decision. If referees want players to stop going down, then they have to stop punishing those who stay on their feet.
One final observation. It seems now that Jari Litmanen is not even deemed worthy of a place on a seven man subs bench. I've said it before, and now I'll say it again. Get onto your agent Jari, because you deserve better than this.
TEAM: Jerzy Dudek; Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia, Stephane Henchoz, Gregory Vignal; Steven Gerrard, Dietmar Hamann, Danny Murphy, John Arne Riise (Gary McAllister); Michael Owen, Emile Heskey:
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