jürgen klopp was full of praise for arsène wenger's attack-minded approach, but said his borussia dortmund side had the ability to "impose our own game" on arsenal fc.
borussia dortmund coach jürgen klopp is expecting a tough contest against an arsenal fc side he believes "can beat anyone" but he believes that the gunners' attacking instincts could work in his side's favour, particularly if shinji kagawa remebers "to have fun".
dortmund coach jürgen klopp: "we're looking forward to this match. i have had a discussion with [shinji] kagawa as things have changed a lot for him over the last year and he has become an important player with new responsibilities now. it is normal that he won't play perfectly in every match so i told him that it is important that he has fun. and maybe tomorrow he will play fantastically again.
they have a very good team who can beat anyone. they play very attacking football but it does not matter who plays for them, we have to focus on us. arsène wenger is one of the most impressive coaches and his arsenal team has been playing very well for years and he has done a great job.
i think it is good for us that arsenal play attacking football. the problem is that they have so much quality that we have to be very careful. but we are prepared. we are capable of defending against this kind of team and have to work to make space and impose our own game."
arsenal manager arsène wenger: "we had to qualify for the champions league and got our team together very late, but we showed quality in our last match against swansea and we are trying to get better with every match. we must get consistency. we have a lot of respect for dortmund. they play a little bit like arsenal – they play offensive and fast. we also want to play offensively so it is going to be a good and interesting match.
we are used to playing matches across europe but it is special in dortmund, because of the spectators. they are well organised and technically good. [mario] götze is maybe the best young german player. we have to control him and take good care of him. i did not want dortmund in the draw, there were a lot of weaker category 4 teams and so i was a little bit disappointed about drawing dortmund. but it is also motivating to play against such a strong team in such a big stadium."
robin van persie's goal before half-time looked sufficient for the visitors until ivan perišić's stunning equaliser late on earned dortmund a draw.
ivan perišić denied arsenal fc the boost of an opening-day win as his superb late volley salvaged borussia dortmund a 1-1 draw in the tussle of the wounded giants in group f.
the shadow of indifferent league form hung over both teams in western germany, and though it was the bundesliga champions who built the first-half momentum, robin van persie leapt on a lapse at the back and produced a fine finish against the run of play close to the interval. his goal helped the gunners settle after the break, but just as it seemed they would hold on substitute perišić pounced.
with the home fans greeting kick-off with a wall of noise, there was a vibrancy about the occasion from the start that quickly infected the players. both sides began with zip and purpose and both wrought early chances, with mats hummels just about dispossessing gervinho in front of the dortmund goal before kevin grosskreutz blasted over at the other end.
the same fate befell shinji kagawa moments later, but the hosts were soon back again as mario götze freed robert lewandowski to skip past poland team-mate wojciech szczęsny and force bacary sagna to block on the line. arsenal were on the rack suddenly, with götze pulling the levers; yet they survived that flurry and threatened again shortly after the half-hour when van persie had a shot palmed wide following an instinctive yossi benayoun pass.
dortmund's response came in the form of a lewandowski header clutched gratefully by szczęsny, but any sense that jürgen klopp's men would ramp up the pressure again was extinguished when van persie was allowed to poke the ball away from sebastian kehl to theo walcott deep in dortmund territory. he thundered a shot beyond roman weidenfeller after accepting the return pass.
arsène wenger could not have hoped for a better end to the half as he served the first instalment of his two-game touchline ban in the stands, and his team came out looking more composed after the break. able to stifle most of their opponents' advances, they nearly doubled their advantage when gervinho wriggled free and fired straight at weidenfeller.
some last-ditch tackling served wenger's men well on occasion too, with alex song halting a slaloming götze run, but dortmund never gave up hope. they produced a fantastic equaliser, perišić burying a left-footed volley high into the far corner after per mertesacker had cleared a free-kick. arsenal were grateful to emerge with a point, in fact, as szczęsny denied lewandowski in added time.
arsene wenger'in, arsenal'in udinese ile yaptığı avrupa şampiyonlar ligi play-off maçında cezalı olmasına rağmen takımıyla irtibat kurduğu ve uefa'nın yaptırımını ihlal ettiği gerekçesiyle kendisine 2 maç ceza verildiğinden bu maçta takımın başında yer alamadı.
