Dortmund boss Klopp shows Wenger how it should be done
Jurgen Klopp
To judge by the way the Arsenal players left the Westfalenstadion on Tuesday night, solemn-faced and mostly unwilling to speak, you could be forgiven for thinking this was one of those evenings in early March when traditionally their Champions League adventure comes to an end.
Rather, this was the club's first defeat in any competition since April, and the first game of six in a group from which, in spite of the quality of Jürgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund side, Arsenal should expect to qualify, at the very least.
The German club lost free agent Robert Lewandowski to Bayern Munich this summer, following Mario Götze's move there the previous season. They spent around £40m this summer, including Ciro Immobile for £15.5m. Like Arsenal, they had players missing on Tuesday, including Mats Hummels, Marco Reus, Ilkay Gündogan and Jakub Blaszczykowski, yet they played Wenger's team off the pitch.
It is that kind of against-the-odds attacking performance, built on imaginative recruitment done on a fraction of the budget of others, which has represented the best of Wenger's Arsenal over the years. It was hard to ignore the fact that on Tuesday Klopp and Dortmund were playing Arsenal at their own game - and winning handsomely.
The handshake that Klopp offered Mesut Özil as he trudged over the touchline after the hour mark felt like an act of sympathy. It was a classy act which set the right tone - just as his team had done for the whole night. (© Independent News Service)
