It was a night when Borussia Dortmund penned one of the finest chapters in their history, a seemingly unremarkable team – low on stellar names – doing something utterly astonishing.
It has felt as though they have been written off repeatedly this season, starting with when they were plunged into the Champions League group of death. They won that with a measure of comfort, ahead of Paris Saint-Germain, Milan and Newcastle.
Atlético Madrid were supposed to be too good for them in the quarter-finals – wrong again – and here, PSG were fancied to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg of this semi-final. Dortmund are at an awfully low ebb domestically, lagging fifth in the Bundesliga. But something has stirred in them when they have heard the famous aria of this competition and never more than at the Parc des Princes.
Dortmund looked like the royalty, the team that have perennially struggled to take the decisive step over the past decade or so, stunning PSG with their collective resolve, their bodies on the line defending. It was Mats Hummels who got the goal that meant everything and PSG could do nothing to spoil the fairytale.
Luis Enrique’s team, flat in the first half, threw everything at Dortmund after the interval, hitting the woodwork an incredible four times, three of those near misses coming after Hummels’ goal. It was not their night, the lack of precision their enemy. Dortmund’s joy was unconfined.
There had been plenty said about the atmosphere in Dortmund for the first leg and the locals were intent on proving that their ground could generate something similar in terms of ear-splitting decibel levels; intimidation, too. The boos that you heard an hour before kick-off were for the Dortmund goalkeepers when they came out to warm up. The intensity would only rise.
The numbers were a part of it, the ones that talked to the history. For PSG, it was a fourth European Cup semi-final; they had reached one previous final. For Dortmund it was a fifth and they were after a third final appearance, the ultimate dream to emulate the class of 97, the conquerors of Juventus; Matthias Sammer, Paul Lambert, Karl-Heinz Riedle et al.
It was an assault on the senses, the acid test of Edin Terzic’s players. The manager had rested all 10 of his outfield starters from the first leg against Augsburg on Saturday; he was never going to deviate too far from the plan that had earned the slender lead from last week.
Luis Enrique had sprung the surprise, starting with Gonçalo Ramos up front, which allowed him to play Kylian Mbappé on the left, surely where he is most dangerous. Bradley Barcola dropped down to the bench. PSG knew that they would need to be patient; precise, too, with their moves because Terzic had demanded his players cede nothing in between the lines. The tightness of the structure without the ball was everything.
Jadon Sancho had dazzled in the first leg, brimming with more confidence as the tie wore on, subjecting Nuno Mendes to a torrid night. He looked to pick up where he left off, a feature of the first half being his determination to carry the ball, to ask questions. There was a pleasing assurance to his touch. When Mendes won a duel with him, the reaction of the home fans said everything.
All PSG could see in the first half was a yellow wall, the Dortmund players moving as one, Julian Brandt tucking in on the left of a central midfield three out of possession. Not that Brandt or Marcel Sabitzer were afraid of making forward runs.
Terzic’s gameplan worked perfectly in the first half. PSG had the bulk of the possession but they created nothing of clearcut note. When they had the flicker of a final pass or shooting opportunity, they rushed things, Ousmane Dembélé’s slash off target in the 31st minute a good example. That was probably as close as PSG came before the interval because Dembélé had been well placed. It was not very close.
The feeling nagged that Dortmund could land a counterpunch and they almost did on 36 minutes after Mbappé had failed to make a clean connection on a half opening. It was Karim Adeyemi who flicked on the afterburners, tearing the length of the field and unloading a low drive. Gianluigi Donnarumma threw out a big left hand to save. It felt like a potentially pivotal moment.
The scene at the start of the second half was lit by dozens of red flares in the Virage Auteuil; the PSG diehards wanted to see a spark from their team and it nearly came when Mbappé crossed following a short corner. The ball deflected and there was Warren Zaïre-Emery at the far post, the angle tight but there was an unguarded pocket of the goal for him to aim for. Zaïre-Emery guided against a post.
PSG battled to master the occasion and Marquinhos would err with a loose back-pass, having just won a tackle, conceding a needless corner. It was a mistake that looked even worse moments later when Hummels rose to thump home Brandt’s delivery, the travelling Dortmund fans exploding into a frenzy. Where was the marking? Lucas Beraldo was the closest defender to Hummels and he was nowhere near tight enough.
The home side ran on emotion, driven by desperation. Ramos wasted a couple of half-chances either side of a Mendes blast that slammed into the far post. The fine margins were against PSG. And the feeling was only reinforced when Mbappé and Vitinha rattled the woodwork in the closing stages.