Dortmund reaches Champions final

Paris — Central defender Mats Hummels headed Borussia Dortmund into the Champions League final as the German team won 1-0 at Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday. 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 advanced 2-0 on aggregate and largely contained PSG striker Kylian Mbappé, who is leaving at the end of the season.

PSG had long spells of possession in the last 10 minutes. Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel palmed away Mbappé's low shot, then pushed Mbappé's deflected close-range effort onto the crossbar with a superb one-handed save. The Parc des Princes crowd groaned when midfielder Vitinha's thumping 25-meter strike rattled the woodwork.

"I don't know what to say," a distraught-looking Vitinha said.

Opponent to be determined

Coach Edin Terzić's team will play either record 14-time champion Real Madrid or six-time winner Bayern Munich on June 1 at Wembley Stadium. Madrid and Bayern drew 2-2 in the first leg and play today.

"Extremely proud. I'm very happy, I think we deserved to go to the final," Terzić said. "We beat a team like PSG two times and we again kept a clean sheet. We started really well and kept them away from the goal."

Dortmund is on course for its 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.

"Indescribable. After more than 10 years, I am in the final with Borussia again," said Marco Reus, Dortmund's veteran midfielder who is leaving the team after this season. "How we won the game, no one will ask tomorrow. Shots against the post won't matter tomorrow. What counts is that Borussia Dortmund is in the final again."

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 its only Champions League final in 2020 to Bayern.

"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 this 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 meters out after Gonçalo Ramos flicked on Mbappé's cross from the left.