Dortmund sealed an ‘incredible’ return to the Champions League final as Mbappé denied PSG’s dream exit

Borussia Dortmund coach Edin Terzic hailed his team’s “incredible run” to the UEFA Champions League final after Tuesday’s victory over Paris Saint-Germain denied Kylian Mbappé the chance to play his last game for the French giants at Wembley.

Leading 1-0 after the first leg in Germany, Dortmund beat PSG against the run of play at the Parc des Princes thanks to a Mats Hummels header five minutes into the second half.

Dortmund, fifth in the Bundesliga, was not expected to make it this far and will not be favorites in the June 1 final, regardless of whether it faces old rivals Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, who meet on Wednesday. .

It will be their first final since 2013, when, interestingly, the match was also played at Wembley and Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund lost to Bayern.

Hummels played in that final and, 11 years later, was the hero as Dortmund took advantage of Niclas Fullkrug’s goal in the first leg.

Drawn in a group with PSG, 2023 semi-finalists AC Milan and English team Newcastle United, most indicated Dortmund would not even make it out of the group.

Despite being dominated in a 2-0 loss at the Parc des Princes to PSG in their first group game in September, Dortmund bounced back to top the group.

Victories over PSV Eindhoven and Atlético de Madrid in the round of 16 followed to set up a rematch with PSG in the semi-finals.

“The faith in the final was already present from the beginning,” said Terzic. “We talked about it for the first time before the first leg in Eindhoven. The faces seemed a little bewildered when I said that the road to London is short. It will still take us a little time to understand it, but the joy is already extremely great.

“With each game we have grown. At some point we beat Milan, who were in the semi-finals last year. And when you eliminate a semi-finalist, it can work for us too.

“We wanted to be a team that people wouldn’t necessarily have on their radar. The journey has been incredible. We knew that games like today are often opened up or decided by set pieces. Mats took it very well.”

Alongside fellow central defender Nico Schlotterbeck, Hummels, 34, stood tall and helped Dortmund hold off PSG’s array of attacking talent, including their standout striker Mbappe, in both ties.

He scored a goal in the second leg and was named player of the match in both games.

The 2014 World Cup winner, who left Dortmund for Bayern in 2016 with a desire to win the Champions League before returning in 2019, is now one match away from one of the few trophies he has yet to claim in a brilliant career.

“Since the second game of the group stage we have believed that we can compete in the Champions League,” Hummels said. “We have proven it many times. There is no reason why we should not believe that we can also win the final.”

Mbappé’s dream in the PSG Champions League is over

As Dortmund focused on the final, it was another missed opportunity for PSG, and for their star Mbappé, the chance to end his time in the French capital with European glory.

The 2018 World Cup winner will leave PSG after seven years when his contract expires at the end of this season, with Real Madrid his likely next destination.

He hoped to close by taking the club to the Champions League title for the first time in their history, but despite dominating the second leg, PSG could not find the goals to send them to Wembley.

Mbappe was one of four PSG players to hit the woodwork in the second half, and coach Luis Enrique complained that his team, which had 31 attempts on goal, had been “bad luck.”

“I don’t really like to talk about bad luck,” Mbappé said. “When you’re good, you don’t hit the post, you score. I tried to help as best I could. When I say we needed to be more clinical, I’m the one who has to score. But that’s life.” , we have to get up “.

It will be difficult for PSG to achieve this, given how close they came to reaching the final for the second time, four years after their defeat to Bayern Munich in Lisbon.

That will always be the closest Mbappé came to lifting the European Cup with his hometown team, for which he is the all-time leading scorer with 255 goals.

A total of 42 of them came in Europe’s elite club competition, but they were unable to increase that number in the home and away games against Dortmund.

Updated: May 8, 2024, 5:41 am