Two clubs, one ideology
The two clubs have myriad similarities. To begin with, both are run in similar, self-sustaining fashion in giant stadia that brings in enormous revenues.
On the pitch they are both champions of the unexpected; sides built around German and Polish talent allowed to express themselves whenever possible.
And the two managers must recognise similarities between each other; both have been considered revolutionary free-thinkers and, if truth be told, rather bonkers.
Yet, whereas Arsene Wenger is now an upstanding member of the establishment, Jurgen Klopp is still the unpredictable kid, the man who marred his good-guy image by reacting horrifically when his side conceded at Napoli, his face contorting with rage as he abused the fourth official.
He will be absent from the bench at the Emirates Stadium tonight as a result, but he will not be the only one with a watching brief — at present it is harder to imagine a more tantalising game in Europe.
Between them the two sides have lost just twice in the league and average almost 2.5 goals per game in what have been stunning starts to their respective campaigns.
And what makes it even more impressive is that both have been forced to sell their best players on a regular basis.
Since they last met two years ago Arsenal have waved goodbye to Robin van Persie and Alex Song; Dortmund to Mario Gotze and Shinji Kagawa.
Yet both are continuing on an upward curve, aided by the odd astute signing — Mesut Ozil in Arsenal’s case; Marco Reus, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in Dortmund’s.
So it was no surprise that Wenger was in a rather jovial mood when he met the press yesterday, joking about Alex Ferguson’s imminent book release before discussing a game that, if Arsenal win, will ensure they have one foot in the last 16 of the Champions League.
“Klopp has done extremely well and given a new lease of life to Dortmund,” explained the 63-year-old of a man who is the same age Wenger was when he took charge at Arsenal 17 years ago.
“Like every passionate guy, he has gone a little overboard in Naples and is punished for that. Overall, you can only congratulate him for the quality of the job he has done. It is exceptional. Dortmund reached the final last season so they have a lot of confidence. Basically the core of the team is the same, it is still based on Polish quality. They lost Gotze they got Reus, basically the structure of the team and the quality of the team is similar.
“I knew they had the quality to do it (reach the final). When we played against them two years ago, I felt they had quality. They don’t hide and we don’t hide, so it should be an exciting game.”
Dortmund have not made as big a leap forward as Arsenal, though. The former have stayed on course but Arsenal have veered sharply off theirs — one which seemed certain to end with them outside of the Premier League’s top four.
Mathieu Flamini has made just as vital a contribution to the Arsenal cause this season as Ozil, and his absence tonight with concussion is a huge blow.
Aaron Ramsey will join Mikel Arteta at the base of the midfield and Wenger must then perm two from the three of Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla and Tomas Rosicky to play wide. With Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski to come back from injury and Serge Gnabry showing signs of developing into an excellent player it is a luxury of riches that Wenger has not enjoyed for perhaps a decade.
“We are much better (than when they last faced Dortmund two years ago). The young players have gained experience and maturity, and the consistency of our results since the first of January 2013 shows that.
“We know we are a team that looks to be successful. For that you need a special hunger, and I believe these players have a special hunger.”
The one thing Wenger is searching for is consistency. It is a hackneyed idea to talk of German efficiency, but since the arrival and influence of Ozil — who has created a chance every 19 minutes so far in his Arsenal career, better than any other player in Europe — Podolski, Gnabry and, above all, Per Mertesacker, Arsenal have seemed less likely to self-destruct at a moment’s notice.
Their influence has certainly not been lost on Wenger — a Frenchman who grew up in Strasbourg on the German border. “German players have a reputation of being 100% professional and certainly we have not been disappointed on that front,” he added.
“After that you buy the players because they have the top quality. Germans have a good attitude to their job and want to be as good as they can be, and they can adapt easily to England.
“What is important is that we go into the game and focus on our quality, our performance. For me that is more important than focusing on Dortmund.
“(We want to) come out of the game and feel we have played at our best. If we do that it will be difficult to handle for everybody.”
It could be an absolute classic.
DORTMUND (Probable): Weidenfeller; Gorosskreutz, Subotic, Hummels, Durm, Bender, Sahin, Mkhitaryan, Reus, Aubameyang, Lewandowski.
ARSENAL (Probable): Szczesny; Sagna,Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Ramsey, Ozil, Cazorla, Wilshere, Giroud.
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