The Dortmund Champions League heroes around Mats Hummels ran wildly towards the traveling fans at the final whistle and ushered in a long night. After a 1-0 (0-0) draw in the semi-final second leg at Paris Saint-Germain, BVB is sensationally back in the final of the premier football league at Wembley Stadium. Veteran Hummels headed the decisive goal in the 50th minute. If FC Bayern manages to win against Real Madrid in the second semi-final on Wednesday evening (9 p.m.), a repeat of the 2013 German showdown in the iconic London venue would be perfect.
“Indescribable, what a week,” said Marco Reus on Amazon Prime Video. “Back in the final after more than ten years. Hats off, hats off, we had to suffer a lot. But we made it in the end.” On Wednesday, “no one asked anymore” how the victory came about. “It just says the name Borussia Dortmund. (…) Now we have to get it, otherwise it would be shit.” Marcel Sabitzer said on CBS: “It’s crazy. I don’t have the right words. The emotions are there, the goosebumps. We had a dream and we did it – we’re going to London.”
As with the 1-0 win six days earlier in Dortmund, BVB offered the favored star ensemble around exceptional player Kylian Mbappé a passionate fight in front of almost 50,000 spectators at the Parc des Princes and is in the final of the Champions League for the third time after 1997 and 2013. On the other hand, the long wait for a triumph in the most important European competition continues for the Paris club, which is supported by Qatar at great financial expense. The highly praised ball artists despaired – at the Dortmund bulwark and twice each at the post and the crossbar of the BVB goal.
“Road to Wembley” was written on a huge banner by the French fans just before kick-off. The road to the final was still a long one for BVB at this point, even if the Bundesliga team did not come under as much pressure at the beginning in the Parc des Princes as they did in the 0:2 group match last September. After a good quarter of an hour, Dortmund even ventured towards the PSG penalty area again and again, mostly via the visibly motivated Jadon Sancho on the right side.
Terzic had reinstated all ten outfield players that he had rotated out of the starting eleven in the Bundesliga game against FC Augsburg (5-1) last weekend. In contrast to the first leg, attacker Donyell Malen was also available again. The fast attacker initially sat on the bench.
Every minute that passed helped BVB, who were initially secure defensively. Paris patiently built up the game in the first half. More came from the right side of PSG with ex-Dortmund players Ousmane Dembélé and Achraf Hakimi than from the left side with superstar Mbappé, who will most likely leave the noble club in the summer.
But Dortmund had the first better chance: Karim Adeyemi failed in a counterattack by the Paris goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, when over half an hour had already been played (35′). The fact that PSG – champions in France for a long time – had no intention of overturning the result from the first leg at this point was something that the Dortmund team were able to take into the break as a sense of achievement.
After the restart, things immediately got tricky. Gonçalo Ramos artistically passed the ball in the Dortmund penalty area to Warren Zaïre-Emery, who only hit the post (47th). But then Dortmund found the right answer: Hummels headed in after a corner from Julian Brandt to take the lead. The 35-year-old veteran, who is fighting for a place in the German European Championship squad, shouted his cheers into the Paris night sky.
A little later, Terzic substituted the second Wembley player from 2013: Marco Reus came on for Adeyemi (56′). Paris then needed a few minutes to recover from the goal. Ramos’ shot went over the goal (60th), Nuno Mendes only hit the post (61st).
Terzic switched to a five-man defense for the remaining time. Dortmund defended resolutely and occasionally tried counterattacks – and Paris ran out of time. Mbappé angrily watched a shot that went well over the Dortmund goal (74th). The supposed 2-0 for Dortmund didn’t count because Hummels clearly scored from offside (77′). On the other side, Mbappé and Vitinha only hit the crossbar (87th and 88th).
Note: This post has been updated.
