Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp admitted he was relieved to be “back in the race” for a UEFA Champions League round-of-16 berth after his side’s 3-1 win over SSC Napoli on Tuesday.
Dortmund’s 1-0 home defeat to Arsenal three weeks ago had left last season’s finalists third in Group F and heading for a group-stage exit, but a Marco Reus penalty and second-half strike by Jakub Blaszczykowski put Dortmund 2-0 up with an hour gone, before Lorenzo Insigne pulled one back for Napoli with 20 minutes left.
Substitute Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came on to grab Dortmund’s third, 12 minutes from time, to calm nerves and put Borussia level on nine points with Napoli in the group behind leaders Arsenal.
Photo: EPA
“Now we’re back in the race,” said Klopp, whose side broke a three-match losing streak including Saturday’s 3-0 drubbing at home to Bayern Munich. “We couldn’t have done more to set things up for the last game. We knew that this would be a spectacular match, but I didn’t expect to see so many chances and so much excitement on the pitch.”
“We wasted a lot of opportunities, but [Napoli goalkeeper] Pepe Reina also made some great saves,” he said. “We worked hard and recorded a highly deserved win, but Napoli were very tough opponents and it wasn’t easy for us.”
With the Gunners three points clear, who qualifies from Group F is to be decided by the final round of group matches when Dortmund travel to Olympique de Marseille and Napoli host Arsenal in two weeks.
Dortmund rightback Kevin Grosskreutz admitted the permutations of what Borussia need to progress to the knockout stages had bothered him during the game.
“After Napoli scored their goal, I asked [Dortmund captain] Sebastian Kehl if the result was still good enough for us,” Grosskreutz said. “Our coach [Klopp] had explained everything the day before, but I didn’t fully understand it at the time. After we scored to make it 3-1, I knew that was enough. We wanted to give our fans and ourselves something to celebrate. We deserved to win.”
The victory at Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park avenged Borussia’s 2-1 defeat at Napoli in September, but Napoli coach Rafael Benitez admitted his side had struggled to cope with the hosts’ pressing game.
“Our mentality is to try to win every game against any opponents and I think we played the right way,” the Napoli coach said. “However, we were facing one of the best counterattacking teams in Europe and it was not easy after going down so early in the game.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two