As Jurgen Klopp waits for Liverpool s 2019-20 Premier League coronation, he might look back fondly on this day in 2012 when he was nudging ever closer to glory with Borussia Dortmund.
BVB were also involved in a major news story exactly five years later, when their players were stunned by a bomb attack on their team bus before a Champions League game.
Phil Mickelson landed his first major golf title at the Masters in 2004, and a South African cricket great s downfall came on this day in 2000.
Here we look back here at standout sporting moments to have occurred on April 11 through the years.
2000 Disgraced Cronje loses South Africa captaincy
Hansie Cronje was one of South Africa s greatest cricketers, and one of the country s most popular figures. His life unravelled in 2000, however, as it emerged that he had been corrupt.
He was stripped of the South Africa captaincy on April 11, 2000, within days of the first claims emerging, initially from India.
Cronje initially denied wrongdoing, but he later came clean, revealing the depths of his match-fixing dishonesty.
He was banned from cricket for life and died in a plane crash in June 2002. Cronje, nevertheless, is still fondly remembered by many in South Africa.
Thinking of my great friend and brother Hansie Cronje on the day he was born. Missing you so much captain and happy birthday!!
— Allan Donald (@AllanDonald33)
2004 Mickelson s Masters
Lefty had been a leading contender for major glory for many years, and had been racking up second-placed and third-placed finishes, so it was high time he made a breakthrough.
At the age of 33, it finally came when the American landed a first Green Jacket, fending off Ernie Els by one shot at The Masters.
It was the first of three Augusta triumphs to date for Mickelson, whose third also came on April 11 in 2010, when a closing 67 saw Mickelson overtake 54-hole leader Lee Westwood to win by three.
Phil Mickelson nearly aces No. 16.
— The Masters (@TheMasters)
2012 Klopp s Dortmund pip Bayern to move to Bundesliga brink
This was Klopp s golden age at Dortmund, as BVB backed up their 2010-11 Bundesliga title campaign with what would be a double-winning season.
A 1-0 victory over Bayern Munich on April 11 was a pivotal moment, as it saw Dortmund pull six points clear of the Bavarians at the top of the table.
The only goal came in the second half with a neat backheel from Robert Lewandowski, who two years later would join Bayern in a stu
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nning snatch for Die Roten.
Bayern, bossed by Jupp Heynckes at the time of this 2012 game, had a late opportunity to draw level, but Arjen Robben had a penalty saved.
Dortmund drubbed Bayern 5-2 in the DFB-Pokal final a month later, Lewandowski grabbing a hat-trick, and they won the league by eight points.
29 have scored in each of their last 29 home games, a new club record (old record: 28 games between February 2011 and October 2012). Wall.
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz)
2017 Dortmund rocked by bomb attack
All of Europe was shocked when three explosions struck the Borussia Dortmund team bus shortly before a Champions League home match against Monaco.
Dortmund defender Marc Bartra was injured, suffering a broken wrist and hand injury and had to undergo surgery, and there was relief nobody was killed. A police motorbike escort rider was also hurt after pipe bombs detonated in a roadside hedge by the team hotel.
Various terrorism theories were raised and investigated before a man was arrested and later charged and found guilty of the attack, having plotted it as part of an attempted elaborate, derivatives-based, financial fraud.
The man, a 29-year-old German-Russian, was jailed for 14 years after being found guilty on 28 counts of attempted murder.
