Former Melbourne Victory goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak has starred on debut for runaway Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund, helping them to a 3-1 victory over defending champions Bayern Munich.
Former Melbourne Victory goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak has starred on debut for runaway Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund, helping them to a 3-1 victory over defending champions Bayern Munich.
Langerak, 22, was brought into the starting 11 due to a knee injury to number one shot-stopper Roman Weidenfeller, and Dortmund manager Juergen Klopp was full of praise for the Melbourne product.
“I am pleased for the boys. Mitch Langerak protected the winning margin for us and, all things told, did a magnificent job,” he said.
“There are so many positive elements to take for our development from this evening.”
“Most of my players were still being nursed the last time we won in Munich.”
Thoughts that Bayern could have exploited Langerak’s inexperience in European football were diminished through a number of quality saves from the fresh-faced ‘keeper, including a superb parry to deny Mario Gomez.
His fine performance will also work wonders for the Victory and the Hyundai A-League, with Langerak’s heroics going some way to wiping clean the memory of former Melbourne keeper Michael Theoklitos’ attempt to kick off a career at League One side Norwich City (now in the Championship) in season 2009-10.
Theoklitos, now back in Australia standing in goal for the Brisbane Roar, played just one match for the English club: a 7-1 thrashing that saw him never play for the club again.
It was the visitors at the Allianz Arena who drew first blood on Saturday, when Lucas Barrios opened the scoring after just eight minutes.
Both sides were creating a plethora of chances, and it was no surprise when Bayern levelled through Luiz Gustavo seven minutes later, blotting Langerak’s sheet.
But Dortmund were back in front almost instantly after Nuri Sahin placed a curling shot past the outstretched hands of Bayern goalkeeper Thomas Kraft, before Mats Hummels’ goal on the hour mark sealed a telling victory for Klopp’s side in a dream European debut for Langerak.
