This should not have happened. not in a Champions League It was dominated by the same familiar faces, superpowers and moneyed elite of the Premier League. Not for the club that sold Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland or for the team that many expected to perish in the group of death or for the team that blew away the Bundesliga on the final day of last season. Not for Edin Terzic, the nice guy manager who has spent part of his reign in danger of being replaced.
But Borussia Dortmund Are in the Champions League final. Seen as the weakest team in the last eight, viewed as outsiders in the semi-finals, they will now be underdogs at Wembley on June 1. They have got there despite financial and footballing adversity, but with an ethos that makes them stand out in the 21st century. It was a victory for the people’s club against the Qatari project and also another missed opportunity for Paris Saint-Germain, who were looking for new ways to make up for not winning the Champions League.
Instead the heart-touching stories came from visitors. Boyhood supporter Terzic, who joined Ottmar Hitzfeld and Jurgen Klopp in taking Dortmund to the Champions League final. for the match winner mats hummelsThe survivor of the 2013 final, a player who admitted he felt his last chance to reach second was gone. to the departure Marco Reus, whose final game for Dortmund would be the biggest game of his life. Same for Jadon Sancho, whose season included four months training with the Manchester United under-18s and could end with the most coveted medal of all.
So much for the supposed predictability of the Champions League. Kylian Mbappe will have to go to Real Madrid to try to win it. There will be no fairytale farewell in the colors of his hometown club. Mbappe and company were denied a goal by Dortmund, although they have long been wondering how that happened.
Luck hardly favored him. He hit the woodwork six times throughout the tie, four of which were in Paris. He had 45 shots on both legs, 30 of which were in France. After several near misses in Germany last week, there were more cases of poor finishing. Yet there were other examples of amazing rescues. psg Faced with a yellow wall: not huge crowds of fans at Signal Iduna Park but a defense in which Hummels and Nico Schlotterbach were excellent.
Terzik also got his strategy right. When PSG attacked midway through the second half, he brought on Niklas Sule as a third centre-back. Part of the plan early on involved doubling the flanks: for example, Sancho was charged with helping Julian Ryerson against Mbappé.
And while Dortmund had long been known for their heavy-metal football, they instead had a defensive formation behind the ball. It was more about being patient than applying pressure. This required a rearguard action, with the bodies in the box blocking shots. But Dortmund were interested. There is resilience and determination in a team that has suffered its only defeat in its last 11 Champions League games. It was an epic victory of teamwork.
Ultimately, PSG may have regretted their ineffectiveness before the break when the brightest start came to Dortmund: Kareem Adeyemi unleashed an electric burst, breaking through the hosts’ defense with Mbappé-esque pace, before That his shot was blocked by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The goalkeeper was helpless, however, when Dortmund scored five minutes after halftime. An unmarked Hummels headed in Julian Brandt’s corner. Only one footballer has made more appearances for Dortmund than Hummels. Now some people have scored a more important goal.
This gave PSG an additional reason to regret the miss: just before the climactic moment, Warren Zaire-Emery hit the upright from close range after Goncalo Ramos had somehow deflected the ball in his direction. The teenager probably should have scored, but the upright went wide when Nuno Mendes fired a 25-yard shot against the post.
After hitting the post twice, PSG got another unwanted double when they were twice denied by the bar. Once again, the first attempt was more useless, the second seemed cleaner. Mbappé brilliantly saved Gregor Kobel’s attempted tip onto the woodwork. Vitinha fired a ferocious effort from long range but the result was the same.
PSG could remember the moment when Ramos fired a shot after an hour. He was soon substituted as Luis Enrique reshaped his attack. Kobel saved from Mbappé. He claimed a penalty in injury time. But his European career with PSG lasted only a few minutes.
Dortmund, tired but happy, saw their unexpected performance take them to the Champions League final and perhaps to glory that would be even greater because it really shouldn’t have happened.