Trending

Matt Hummels Header Send Dortmund Into Champions League Final

Matt Hummels scores as Dortmund beat PSG 1-0 to reach Champions League final at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday, giving the Germans a 2-0 win on aggregate.

Dortmund will play against either fellow German side Bayern Munich or 14-time champions Real Madrid in the final at Wembley on June 1.

Hummels struck five minutes into the second half at the Parc des Princes and PSG were unable to muster a response, the home side all out of luck as they hit the woodwork four times in total.

Dortmund, who sit fifth in the German Bundesliga, were never expected to go so far and will be underdogs in the June 1 showpiece regardless of whether they face their old rivals Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, who meet on Wednesday.

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

Hummels played in that final and here, 11 years later, he was the hero as Dortmund built on the advantage given to them by Niclas Fuellkrug’s goal in the first leg.

The story of this semi-final, however, is just as much about PSG’s failure in another crunch knockout tie in the competition.

They have still never won the trophy despite all the money invested by their Qatari owners since the 2011 takeover, and there will be no dream send-off for Mbappe.

He will leave when his contract expires after this season and had been hoping to play his last game for the club in the June 1 final.

Instead PSG will be left to reflect on how they failed to get their hands on the biggest trophy of all during Mbappe’s seven years at his hometown team.

PSG’s last two semi-final appearances both came during the pandemic, meaning this was the first time they had hosted a match at this stage of a European competition with fans in 29 years, since losing to AC Milan in 1995.

They were favourites to reach their first Champions League final since 2020, despite their defeat in Dortmund six days earlier.

 

Related Articles

Back to top button