Sensation with Hummels and luck: Borussia Dortmund is in the Champions League final

Sensation with Hummels and luck
Borussia Dortmund is in the Champions League final

May 7, 2024, 10:52 p.m

Bundesliga soccer team Borussia Dortmund defeated Paris Saint-Germain and reached the final of the Champions League for the first time since 2013. Experienced Mats Hummels becomes the match winner.

Thanks to Mats Hummels, Dortmund’s dream of returning to Wembley has come true. After the veteran’s header (50th minute) for a 1-0 (0-0) win in the semi-final second leg of the Champions League at Paris Saint-Germain, the football fairytale continues for the Bundesliga fifth-place team.

With a courageous performance, coach Edin Terzic’s team moved into the final on June 1st in the English place of worship. FC Bayern succeeds in the second semi-final on Wednesday evening (9 p.m./DAZN and in the live ticker on ntv.de) A win at Real Madrid would be perfect for a repeat of the 2013 premier class showdown in 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.

Terzic relies on first leg heroes

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 a large financial outlay from Qatar. The highly praised ball artists despaired – at the Dortmund bulwark and twice at the post and the crossbar of the BVB goal.

“Road to Wembley” was written on a huge banner of the French fans immediately before kick-off. The road to the final was still long for BVB at this point, even if the Bundesliga club did not initially come under as much pressure in Prinzenpark as they did in the 2-0 defeat in the group game last September. After a good quarter of an hour, Dortmund even ventured towards the PSG penalty area early on, mostly via the visibly motivated Jadon Sancho on the right.

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 Dortmunders could take into the break as a sense of achievement.

Hummels scores, PSG is unlucky

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).