The German football club Borussia Dortmund advanced to the final of the Champions League last night by defeating the French club PSG in the semi-finals with 2-0 aggregate goals. The second semi-final played in Paris ended 1–0 for Dortmund Mats Hummels with bumper paint.
– When you take into account how top football has developed and how much money PSG can afford to spend on their players compared to Dortmund, this is an incredible achievement, a Finnish journalist reporting from Germany Johanna Nordling tells Urheilu how hard the trick is.
After the match, the Dortmund players rush to their supporters to celebrate. Pre-favorite PSG quickly left the field with a superstar Kylian Mbappé25, under the leadership.
A defender in the scent of Dortmund’s celebration Nico Schlotterbeck also misplaced his steps trying to get on the podium with his teammates. (Messaging service X ex. Twitter publication below)
Nordling says that after the final spot was secured, the Borsigplatz roundabout in Dortmund was filled with thousands of yellow and black supporters.
– I can imagine that many people in Dortmund have worn their jerseys to work and school today.
The Borsigplatz roundabout is indeed a classic party spot in the city, as the bar where Borussia Dortmund was founded in 1909 was located next to it.
German media as according to Derweste the fans also organized a car parade around Borsigplatz. The working cars were joined by the singing and shouting of numerous Borussia Dortmund fans. Torches lit up Dortmund’s night sky.
Even in Paris, where the match was played, the party continued late into the night. Dortmund club boss Hans-Joachim Watzke meaningfully informed the media that today is not the day to enjoy just a glass of wine. The players and away fans cheered long after the final whistle, while the rest of the stadium was completely empty.
When Dortmund’s head coach Edin Terzic41, analyzes the match at the press conference, scorer Hummels joined him. Hummels listened quietly to his coach’s words until the coach informed his defender of the next task.
– Mats, you have to do it at least one more time, Terzić pointed to the final match.
Unique opportunity
Dortmund last made it to the Champions League final 11 years ago. At that time, another German club, Bayern Munich, was the opponent. At that time, Bayern won the final match played at Wembley Stadium in London.
Dortmund has won the Champions League once 27 years ago in 1997. That time the team defeated Juventus.
Now the team will return to the stage of 2013, when the winner of the semi-final pair Bayern Munich/Real Madrid will face off. The teams’ first partial match ended with the numbers 2–2.
The captain remains from the final team 11 years ago Marco Reus34, and Mats Hummels, 35, who scored the winning goal yesterday.
Reus, who will turn 35 on the final weekend, has confirmed that he will leave the club after the season. Seuraikoni has represented his parent club Dortmund continuously since 2012.
At the beginning of the last decade, Hummels was winning two Bundesliga championships in Dortmund coached by Jürgen Klopp. He represented Bayern Munich between his spells at Dortmund in 2016-2019.
– No matter who we play against in the final match, we will face a very strong opponent. We (Dortmund) have no reason not to believe we can win the final, said defender Hummels.
Johanna Nordling says that Bayern and Dortmund were both better teams in 2013 when compared to the European level.
– Then Jurgen Klopp’s captained by Dortmund was one of the most interesting teams in Europe, specifically in terms of their style of play. Jupp Heynckes was also tactically the top of Europe at that time. Now, when we look at it, these teams are second and fifth in the Bundesliga.
– There are also no similar stars in Dortmund as when, for example, Robert Lewandowski was in the team.
Nordling says that both Reus and Hummels are both icons in Dortmund.
– They have received criticism in their careers and there have been many disappointments in their careers. The head coach of the German national football team Julian Nagelsmann it is also now perhaps necessary to include Hummels in the summer European Championships, even if he would not necessarily have wanted it before.
Dortmund’s current captain Emre Can was winning with Bayern in 2013. The 30-year-old skipper unleashed his emotions after winning the semi-final match.
– I am very proud to be the captain of this team. It is incredible what we have achieved this Champions League season. We all have a dream to win this. There’s only one step left.
– When you look at the Dortmund crew, such players, when Julian Ryerson and Emre Canwho will very likely never win the Champions League semi-final again, says Nordling.
Difficult times
Dortmund’s last season ended tragically for the team, when the Bundesliga championship slipped out of hand in the last round. The team is currently only fifth in the domestic league, and has played its worst season in no less than nine years.
Why such an upgrade in the Champions League playoffs?
– The Bundesliga is actually already over for Dortmund, because the team has already secured a place in the Champions League for next season. In the domestic league, they can’t really achieve anything this season.
Dortmund found themselves in the so-called “group of death” in the Champions League when the groups were drawn at the end of August. PSG, AC Milan and Newcastle were drawn in the same group. The German club’s start in the group stage of the Champions League was not a bed of roses.
However, Johanna Nordling sees a clear turning point in the team’s season, after which the game in the Champions League started to move.
– Newcastle’s victories brought a chance for the next place. After this, the team’s game started to roll. The Champions League also ignites players, like supporters, in a completely different way than league games.
The team’s head coach Terzić, 41, has been under the threat of being fired for a long time. He has been criticized, among other things, for his sometimes dysfunctional team tactics.
Nordling believes that Terzić, who has coached Dortmund from the summer until 2022, is stuck in the next round thanks to the place in the final match.
– You can no longer kick him out with any excuse. Yes, this place in the final secured Terzić’s job for next year as well. He has always been forgiven in the past because he has been a Dortmund fan since he was a child.
Terzić burst into tears after securing a place in the final match.
Dortmund will receive the winner of tonight’s semi-final pair. The match played in Madrid starts at 22:00 Finnish time. The Champions League final will be played at London’s Wembley Stadium on June 1.