Champions League final awaits Dortmund
CENTRAL DEFENDER Mats Hummels headed Borussia Dortmund into the Champions League final as the German team won 1-0 at Paris Saint-Germain yesterday.
Moments after Warren Zaïre-Emery missed an open goal for PSG, Hummels rose unchallenged to head in Julian Brandt’s corner from the left in the 50th minute.
Dortmund won both legs 1-0 and largely contained PSG striker Kylian Mbappé, who is leaving at the end of the season.
PSG had l ong spells of possession in the last 10 minutes.
Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel palmed away Mbappé’s l ow shot, then pushed Mbappé’s deflected close-range effort on to the crossbar with a superb onehanded save. The Parc des Princes crowd groaned when midfielder Vitinha’s thumping 25-metre strike rattled the woodwork.
“I don’t know what to say,” a distraught-looking Vitinha said.
Coach Edin Terzic’s team will play either record 14-time champions Real Madrid or six-time winners Bayern Munich on June 1 at Wembley Stadium. Madrid and Bayern drew 2-2 in the first leg and play today.
Dortmund are on course for their second Champions League trophy after winning in 1997 and a third European trophy, having won the now defunct UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1966. Dortmund also reached the Champions League final in 2013, losing to Bayern.
For PSG, it’s another season ending without raising the trophy its cash-rich Qatari owners so crave despite spending huge amounts on star players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar, Lionel Messi and Mbappé. PSG lost their only Champions League final in 2020 to Bayern.
COUNTER-ATTACK
“Efficiency, that’s what we were missing,”PSG captain Marquinhos said. “We should have defended better. They scored from a corner and a counter-attack (in the first leg). We created more chances but they won both games.”
As Dortmund’s players rushed over to celebrate with their visiting fans, Mbappé looked dejected as he trudged for the last time in a Champions League game wearing a PSG jersey. He is widely expected to join Madrid.
Moments before Dortmund’s goal, Zaïre-Emery somehow hit the post from two metres out after Gonçalo Ramos flicked on Mbappé’s cross from the left.
On Hummels’ goal, PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma again did not move off his line to claim the ball, having not done so when Barcelona scored on a corner from the left in the first leg of the quarterfinals.
Even though PSG were chasing the game, coach Luis Enrique’s players seemed nervous, playing cautiously and defending too deeply in the first half, allowing Dortmund to settle into a comfortable rhythm.
Mbappé was ineffective in attack when PSG lost the first leg and again struggled initially to get into the game.
Despite their speed, Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé struggled to find space behind a wellorganised Dortmund defence, with midfielder Emre Can offering good protection.
It took 30 minutes before Mbappé and Zaïre-Emery freed Dembélé on the right of the penalty area, but he failed to hit the target.
Speedy left winger Karim Adeyemi did so for Dortmund five minutes later when a rapid counter-attack exposed PSG’s defence, but Donnarumma rescued PSG with a fine low save.
Hummel’s goal at least woke up PSG’s attack, but Ramos missed the target when well-placed either side of a stinging shot from left back Nuno Mendes hitting the left post.
Dembélé t hen cut inside Hummels, who was perhaps unfortunate not to concede a penalty midway through the second half. I nstead, referee Daniele Orsato awarded a free kick right on the edge of the area.
PSG may point to hitting the post and refereeing decisions, but in reality again fell short despite boasting one of the world’s best players in Mbappé.