European soccer

A comeback to beat all comebacks! After an eight-year absence from European soccer Dortmund pulled off a last gasp 4-3 victory against Ukrainian side Karpaty Lwiw on Thursday.

Juergen Klopp's young side got off to a good start with goals from Nuri Sahin from the penalty spot and rising start 18-year-old Mario Goetze. But then BVB carelessly threw away their 2-0 lead. In the 44th minute the Ukrainians pulled a goal back just before half-time. Oleg Holodyuk was the goal scorer for the Ukrainians.

After the break the home side turned up the pressure and were rewarded with goals by Mykhaylo Kopolovets in the 52nd minute and Denis Kozhanov in the 78th.

Just when it looked as if the Ukrainians had it all sewn up it was Dortmund's turn to pull out all the stops. Lucas Barrios equalized in the 87th minute and then Goetze stepped up and bagged the winner in the last minute of injury time.

"I've seen these kind of games played by Werder Bremen a number of times, but I never thought that we could. We dominated the game but we only have ourselves to blame for the goals they scored", said Juergen Klopp.

Dortmund had to forfeit the services of captain Sebastian Kehl who pulled a muscle in the warm before the game.

Leverkusen on a roll

Patrick Helmes inspired Bayer Leverkusen to a 4-0 win over Rosenborg in Group B scoring a hatrick. Stefan Reinartz got the fourth against the Norwegian side.

Leverkusen took the lead in the fourth minute. Some poor defending by Trondheim was a clear invitation for Leverkusen to land a few shots on goal. In the 38th minute defender Stefan Reinartz found the back of the net.

After the break Leverkusen continued to dominate the game with Helmes scoring two more goals in the space of three minutes.

“What's more important is the three points, not my three goals”, said Helmes after the match.

Leverkusen now lead Group B after Atletico Madrid lost 1-0 against Aris Saloniki.

Solid performance

Stuttgart started their Europa League campaign with a 3-0 win against Young Boys Bern. Stuttgart, currently bottom of the Bundesliga with no points from three games, were nervous.

"at was very important. We wanted to take an early but what was more crucial was to play more aggressively”, said goal scorer Cacau.

Author: Nigel Tandy

Editor: Holly Fox