United Knocked Out As Dortmund Complete The Double Over Spurs

A Phillipe Coutinho goal cancelled out Anthony Martial’s penalty and secured a 1-1 draw for Liverpool and gave them a 3-1 aggregate win over Manchester United, at Old Trafford on Thursday night.

Jurgen Klopp’s side came into the tie with a two-goal advantage from their win at Anfield a week ago, and completed their quest at the home of one of their bitter rivals to book a place in the Europa League quarter-finals.

United’s hopes of staging a memorable comeback were ignited in the 32nd minute when Martial Put the Red Devils ahead with a clinical spot-kick, after the Frenchman was brought down by Nathaniel Clyne in the box.

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However, Coutinho snuffed United’s ambitions of a comeback with a delightful solo effort on the stroke of halftime, to restore The Reds two-goal cushion.

Jurgen Klopp’s game-plan was pretty much close to perfect but United played straight into it, conceding at that critical moment before half-time and lost the game even before the break, as they were denied the momentum of a flying start to the second half.

The German got it right in his pre-match press conference just before the game, when he said; “We decide how good the atmosphere is,” knowing the 3000 Liverpool supporters would have more to sing about than the 70,000 home crowd at Old Trafford.

Liverpool became the first English side to eliminate United from European competition, and in the only continental meeting between these sides.

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Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund completed the double against Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs to ease into the last eight of the Europa League.

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The Germans, who came into the game with a 3-0 advantage defeated Tottenham 2-1 and an aggregate score of 5-1 at White Hart Lane.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a brace for the visitors with Heung-min Son pulling one back for the host.

The Gabon international put the German side ahead in the 24th-minute before taking his tally for the season to 35 with a second goal in the 70th minute, after his shot deflected into the net past Hugo Lloris.

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Son scored a consolation for Spurs, after Neven Subotic’s weak back pass put the South Korean through.

Speaking after the game, Borussia Dortmund manager, Thomas Tuchel said he is proud of his team.

“We had to work hard to win at White Hart Lane, as never before have a German side won here,” the 42-year old said.

“I wanted a complete domination tonight. We had huge chances that we missed.

“The goal we conceded was unnecessary. It was a technical error. But it’s ok.

“I’m proud of my team and we deserved to win how we did.”

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Tottenham will now turn their attention to the Premier League as they sit in second place, three-points behind leaders Leicester, with their managing saying he took positives from the game despite the defeat.

The Argentine said: “I’m disappointed that we’re out of the Europa League. We played a good team of a Champions League level.

“We learned a lot. It was a good test for our young players, for them to learn from playing in Europe.

“I want to take the positives from it. Now we can focus on the league where we can achieve big things.”

In other games, Athletic Bilbao, Villarreal, Sporting Braga, Sevilla, Sparta Prague and FC Shakhtar Donetsk joined Liverpool and Dortmund in the Quarter-Finals of the Europa League.

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