Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang strike early against Liverpool

Liverpool's hopes of progressing to the Europa League Semi-Finals, and possibly going all the way to qualify for the Champions League, were crushed early and convincingly by Borussia Dortmund at Anfield.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored in the fifth minute of play, and his goal was quickly followed up with another by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the ninth minute.

The first goal came about after Gonzalo Castro chipped a ball to Aubameyang in the box. Auba's shot was saved by Simon Mignolet, but came right into the path of Mkhitaryan who smashed it into the net for his seventh goal in Europe this season.

Aubameyang silenced Anfield when he latched onto Marco Reus' through-ball and ran past Mamdou Sakho to fire a shot past Mignolet and into the top corner. It was a classic Dortmund counter-attack highlighted by the vision of Reus and the breathtaking speed of Aubameyang. It was the Gabon international's 37th goal in all competitions this season.

The two goals in the opening ten moments of the game put Dortmund on the verge of a trip to the Semi-Finals. It puts BVB 3-1 up on aggregate, with two away goals to Liverpool's one. The home side now face the tall task of needing three goals, without conceding any, to go through.