Paris Saint-Germain 0-1 (0-2 on agg.) Borussia Dortmund
Edin Terzic’s Borussia Dortmund are in the Champions League final after beating Paris Saint-German in a dramatic rearguard action at the Pac des Princes.
PSG entered the semi-finals on the hunt for a treble, with the Ligue 1 title already won and a Coupe de France final against Olympique Lyonnais on 25h May. But it is 1997 champions Dortmund who saw off the French giants, keeping a second clean sheet, thanks largely to the woodwork!
After a quiet first half the second exploded into life as Mats Hummels headed Dortmund into a lead on the night and a 2-0 aggregate advantage; and as PSG belatedly threw the kitchen sink at it, they hit the post four times, twice in the dying minutes.
The Champions League 2024 betting odds will inevitably say BVB are outsiders in the final, but Terzic’s heroes won’t care one bit.
Highlights of the game
With so much at stake in front of a packed and expectant Parc des Princes crowd the hosts made a nervy start, and Gianluigi Donnarumma was called into early action when Dortmund swung in a first minute free-kick. And then the PSG keeper had to be alert to clear a Marquinhos pass back with a speedy Karim Adeyemi bearing down.
At the other end of the pitch Goncalo Ramos got a shot away but it flew narrowly wide and Vitinha fired his effort well wide. And then Julian Ryerson gave the home crowd a scare when he blasted a shot into the side netting.
Kylian Mbappe had been quiet in the first half hour and when he did get a chance he fluffed his lines with a scuffed shot and the teams went into the half time break at 0-0.
As expected the French champions came out firing at the start of the second half and Warren Zaire-Emery had a golden chance when the ball fell to him at the far post, but he smashed his shot against the woodwork when everyone in the ground expected the net to bulge.
It was a bad miss and, a minute later, it was made to look even worse when Dortmund centre back Hummels rose to meet a corner from Julian Brandt and powered a header past Donnarumma and into the net.
PSG had it all to do and they threw everything at it, Ramos blazing over on 60 minutes and then Nuno Mendes crashed the woodwork with a fine effort. And the hosts had a big penalty shout when Ousmane Dembele was tripped by Hummels but the contact was inches outside the penalty area and the free kick came to nothing.
On 82 minutes Mbappe had his second shot of the game and that about summed up his night, as BVB centre back Nico Schlotterbeck pretty much had him in his pocket. But the France captain did find enough room to get a shot away on 86 and, yet again, the ball crashed back off the crossbar.
Amazingly, the bar must have still been wobbling when it was rattled once more as Vitinha’s beautiful strike was inches out.
And that was that!
Key statistics
The statistics in the first leg in Dortmund were pretty level across the board and had the woodwork not denied PSG then Enrique’s side would have picked up a result. The odds still backed the Parisiens to go through but they had a frustrating first half, dominating the possession and the shot count by eight to four but rarely troubling Gregor Kobel in the BVB goal.
The second half was a different story as Dortmund scored and PSG registered a huge 30 shots, though Kobel still had a relatively quiet night!
Over the two legs the Parisiens hit the woodwork six times.
And at an average of 24 years and 157 days Paris had the youngest starting eleven in a Champions League semi-final since Arsenal against Manchester United in 2009.
What’s next?
So Borussia Dortmund can look forward to a showcase final at Wembley Stadium and, once the party has died down, their fans will be watching the Champions League 2024 updates very closely, when Real Madrid continue their campaign against Bayern Munich on Wednesday, with the tie delicately balanced at 2-2.
What price a Der Klassiker final?
With the Ligue 1 title already won PSG can relax when they host Toulouse on Sunday; their visitors have little to play for, in 11th place and, for a number of weeks, safe. With one defeat in six Toulouse are in decent form though but they may meet a serious backlash.
Dortmund are still hoping to finish in the Bundesliga top four and they face a trip to Mainz on Saturday, knowing they need to win to keep the pressure on Red Bull Leipzig in fourth; Die Roten Bullen are at home to Werder Bremen.
But priority number one has changed and Terzic’s men are just 100 minutes away from a European crown.
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