Mats Hummels Comments on Borussia Dortmund's Europa League Defeat to Liverpool
Borussia Dortmund exited the UEFA Europa League after a dramatic 4-3 defeat to Liverpool on Thursday, with defender Mats Hummels claiming his side “got the jitters," per Sky Deutschland (h/t James Cambridge of the Express).
The Bundesliga side appeared to have taken a stranglehold over the quarter-final second-leg tie when they went two goals ahead in nine minutes at Anfield after goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
However, Liverpool bravely fought back in the second period in spite of Marco Reus’ early goal to net four times against their German opponents, with the last being scored in stoppage time through defender Dejan Lovren at the Kop End.
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Liverpool's official Twitter account posted audio of legendary striker John Aldridge's reaction to the Croatian defender's late winning header.
The Dortmund players were visibly distraught at full-time following the pulsating match on Merseyside as they were eliminated at the last-eight stage 5-4 on aggregate with a place in the final four within their grasp.
Centre-back Hummels felt his side only had themselves to blame for failing to capitalise on their early lead:
"When we scored to make it 3-1 we thought we were through. We stopped defending aggressively and stopped playing football when we scored the 3-1. Then we suddenly got the jitters. We gave it away.
Liverpool would never have come back if we would have continued to play our socks off after we scored the 3-1. We should have made the opponent chase the ball. Instead we just lost touch too often in defence. We just can't concede goals like that, that was too easy for them. This defeat is the one that hurts the most this season.
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Liverpool will play La Liga side Villarreal in their semi-final first leg at Estadio Madrigal on Thursday April 28 before the return tie at Anfield. Meanwhile, on the other side of the draw, defending champions Sevilla face Ukrainian Premier League runners-up Shakhtar Donetsk.
