Why Borussia Dortmund's Marco Reus Can Show Liverpool What They're Missing

On the face of it, the fact that they convincingly knocked out the team second in the Premier League in the last round of the UEFA Europa League should mean that Borussia Dortmund approach a quarter-final against the ninth-placed team in England—17 points behind that Tottenham Hotspur squad—with great confidence.

But ever since Liverpool were drawn out of the hat to face the tournament favourites, there has been a different feel about this tie—and for obvious, dark-rimmed-spectacle-wearing reasons.

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Jurgen Klopp is such an icon to the Dortmund fans that the club’s chief executive, Hans-Joachim Watzke, is worried that those fans will take his side when two of European football’s most distinctive kits clash at Signal Iduna Park on Thursday, according to the Guardian, thereby turning the match into some sort of tribute to the former BVB boss and not a huge European tie with a lot at stake.

The Liverpool manager is so central to this game that it would be no surprise to see broadcasters employ some form of “Klopp-Cam” keeping track of the German’s movements on the side of the pitch while the action goes on in the middle.

It mustn’t be forgotten, though, that it will be the players who dictate the result of the tie—with a healthy first-leg lead for Dortmund perhaps making the return game at Anfield irrelevant—just as they did in the last round at White Hart Lane.

Key to that effort, of course, will be a man whom many have imagined wearing a Liverpool shirt in the not-too-distant past.

The Marco Reus transfer rumour is a great example of how modern football works, as its almost-constant repetition became a standing joke on social media. Even the Reds’ owner joined in:

"

Oh and sign Reus!

— John W. Henry (@John_W_Henry) September 17, 2014"

Like many who will take to the pitch in yellow and black on Thursday, Reus owes Klopp an awful lot.

It was Klopp who brought Reus back to Dortmund six years after he left the club as a youth player in 2012, with the quicksilver attacker a key element in the side which reached the 2013 Champions League final, scoring four goals along the way.

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Injuries have been a constant issue as far as he is concerned, but whenever he is fit we’ve seen an incisive, fast attacker capable of both running in behind defences and hitting strikes from distance.

One of the reasons for his success under Klopp was his adaptability, as he roamed around basically looking to cause as much havoc as possible either between the lines of defence and midfield or out on the flanks.

Klopp will be instructing as many as five or six Liverpool players to look out for him as he drops into their zone on Thursday, with his name sure to feature heavily in the German’s team talk.

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Indeed, it is the fact that Klopp knows so much about this Dortmund side which both adds a huge dollop of intrigue to this tie and gives Liverpool a fighting chance. Defending cannot be said to be the Reds’ forte, but those defenders won’t be able to say that they are unprepared for the challenge which lies ahead.

If he’s on his game, Reus could show Liverpool just why all of those transfer rumours were so popular for so long. Clickbait is all around us, with big-name transfer rumours proving hugely popular for a variety of media companies.

Everyone wants to believe that the latest big talent is on his way to their club, and that became an obsession with Liverpool and Reus.

Of course, Reus is on his way to Merseyside—for the second leg at Anfield in a week’s time—and it will be his actions in the first minutes which go a long way towards determining the mood of that match.

If he’s on his game then, as Klopp knows, he has the ability to take the tie away from his former mentor in 90 minutes.

Not that that will stop the transfer rumours, of course.