Klopp: All-German UCL Final 'Likely'

Jürgen Klopp said an all-German final seems likely now that Borussua Dortmund has answered Bayern Munich’s 4-0 drubbing of FC Barcelona on Tuesday with a 4-1 defeat ofReal Madrid in the first-leg of their UEFA Champions League Semifinal series.

“That was pure soccer tonight, my players were unstoppable,” Klopp said. “We lost the plot abit after 25 minutes, however, and the players were a bit unsettled, which led to the equalizer. I told them at halftime that nothing had happened and that we would now need to score a goal in Madridwhich was our plan anyway … if we had not conceded that equalizer, I doubt we would have scored three goals in the second half.”

The Dortmund coach hailed his team’s“great performance” in the second half. “I’ve never seen such a great goal as [Robert Lewandowski’s] third – that was absolutely amazing. Anall-German final surely seems a bit more likely now after the first-legs, but we know that we still have a tough match ahead in Madrid.”

Lewandowski, who became the first player to ever score four goals against Real Madrid in theChampions League, said: “It was almost perfect…it was an outstanding performance, but we’re not in the final yet. … The atmosphere was incredible throughout the match. We played reallywell in the second half and Real Madrid had no idea how to deal with us. We scored three goals and played unbelievably well. Real are going to be dangerous in Madrid so we need to stayfocused.”