David Hytner was at the Parc des Princes tonight. Here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night.
Luis Enrique speaks to TNT: “A tight match … we deserved to win that match … we created 31 shots and hit four posts … in the two matches we hit the post six times … we didn’t score a goal, it’s unbelievable … football is so unfair sometimes … not six posts, but three goals, it would be great … but congratulations to them, they are a great team … they did it great … I hope and wish they can go to the final and win it … our job is trying to create something positive … now is a sad moment … we need to create something special next year and try to win that competition.”
Edin Terzic talks to TNT Sports: “If I have to pick one word it is proud … the dream is not over yet … we suffered a lot but we showed a very good away game against a team that is so powerful up front … we kept two clean sheets … we won both games in the semi-final … it was an outstanding team performance … without that you have no chance to keep a clean sheet … we were the better team in the first half … in the second half it was passionate … do everything to block shots and crosses … going to Wembley sounds good!”
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Here’s a damning stat from PSG’s perspective: they made 31 attempts tonight, but only got five on target. Admittedly four others hit the frame of the goal, but on target is on target is on target. On the flip side, replays suggest that Mats Hummels caught Ousmane Dembélé right on the white line of the penalty box, and that PSG were very unfortunate not to get a spot kick … but factor in Nuno Mendes’s unpunished shove on Niclas Füllkrug in the first leg, and perhaps the football gods have maintained the karmic equilibrium there.
Borussia Dortmund therefore reach their third Champions League final. They won their first in 1997, beating Juventus 3-1 in Munich, Karl-Heinz Riedle, Lars Ricken, all that. They lost their second, though, Jurgen Klopp’s side going down 2-1 to Bayern at Wembley in 2013. Der BVB have a chance to right that wrong at the same venue next month … and may even do so against the same opposition. Real Madrid will have a word or two to say about that tomorrow night. Whoever Dortmund meet in the final, they’ll be the underdogs, but they’ve proven over both legs against PSG that such a status is no barrier to deserved victory. Meanwhile poor PSG’s wait for a maiden Champions League win goes on.
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Borussia Dortmund rode their luck defensively at times. PSG hit the woodwork six times in this tie, four times tonight. The ball simply wouldn’t go in for the French champions. But you make your own good fortune, too, and Dortmund defended with a collective zeal deserving of a few big breaks. Took their big chance, too. They tear off to the mini Yellow Wall that’s been built by the away fans in the corner, and celebrate as one. The rest of the Parc is in mourning, Luis Enrique mulling around with his dejected troops as Dortmund cavort in the corner. You have to feel for PSG, who threw everything they had at their opponents, but over the piece it’s hard to deny Dortmund, who deservedly make it through to Wembley after two extremely entertaining, electric legs.
FULL TIME: Paris Saint-Germain 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (agg 0-2)
The whistle goes, and Dortmund are going to a Champions League final at Wembley again!
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90 min +4: Ascensio plays Mbappe clear down the middle … only for Mbappe to slip over. Some cheap symbolism of the 180 minutes, right there.
90 min +3: Credit to the fans inside the Parc des Princes, the German fans aren’t the only ones still making noise. Kári Tulinius reports: “Though it doesn’t look like PSG’s fans will grace Wembley with their presence, they have been magnificent tonight, singing, clapping, chanting, drumming, shouting and making glorious noise all night long.”
90 min +2: PSG have hammered at the door, but it’s refused to budge. And suddenly they look out of ideas. Dortmund are surely in the Wembley final.
90 min +1: Dortmund have defended like monsters, though. And here’s another example as Mbappe prepares to enter the box down the middle, only for Schlotterbeck to lean in from the right and put him off. Mbappe falls over and claims a penalty, but it’s a desperate shout and the referee is quite rightly not interested.
90 min: PSG have now hit the woodwork six times in this tie. Sometimes it’s just not meant to be. Or is it? They’ve got four minutes to find the net twice and force extra time.
88 min: Actually, Kobel might have got a hand to that Mbappe shot. PSG keep on keepin’ on, and an increasingly desperate Vitinha has a whack from the best part of 30 yards. It’s an absolute pearler, surely heading for the top right past a rooted Kobel … but the ball caroms off the underside of the crossbar and away! How on earth have PSG not scored?!
86 min: Mbappe hits the bar! There’s a game of pinball in the Dortmund box. Kobel flaps. Dortmund can’t clear. The ball sits up for Mbappe, who simply has to score, but shanks a shot off the top of the crossbar. Wow.
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85 min: Felix Nmecha comes on for Julian Brandt.
84 min: Schlotterbeck slides out of play with the ball, then sits on it. Hakimi comes across to shove him off, and goes into the book for his trouble.
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83 min: PSG have taken 24 attempts at goal, but have only got four on target.
82 min: A free kick for PSG out on the right touchline, Schlotterbeck having upended Lee, who takes it himself and hits it long. Marquinhos wins a header at the far stick but can only send it wide left.
81 min: Another corner for PSG comes in from the left. Amid a melee, Mbappe attempts a backheel. Then Ascensio attempts to shoot through a thicket of legs. No luck. The ball’s half cleared. Then Mbappe works his way down the right and shoots, Kobel turning around the post for yet another corner. Hummels deals with it, but this is backs-to-the-wall stuff from Dortmund now, as PSG engage Kitchen Sink mode.
79 min: Barcola has looked lively since coming on. He wins a corner down the left. The set piece is worked back to Vitinha, whose adventurous shot is blocked by Hummels.
77 min: Dortmund have the ball in the net again! But it won’t count. Brandt wins a corner with a bustle down the right. From the set piece, Hummels hooks a ball dropping over his shoulder into the top left … but he was miles offside in meeting the knock-down. For a nanosecond, the Parc fell silent.
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76 min: Lee Kang-in comes on for Warren Zaïre-Emery.
75 min: Hakimi and Dembele attempt to complete a one-two down the inside-right channel. The former goes over after feeling Reus’s arm lightly brush his shoulder. He wants a penalty, but come off it and come on. Dembele, incensed, hysterically slide-tackles Schlotterbeck and goes into the book for his loss of noggin.
74 min: “PSG do look rattled, but I’m getting shades of the World Cup final where Mbappe single handedly dragged an abject France team back from the same scoreline,” observes Ted Graves. On that subject, Mbappe barges in from the left before lifting a harmless shot over the bar from distance. Dortmund haven’t given him much of a sniff tonight.
72 min: On the touchline, Luis Enrique looks on with a mixture of concern and disbelief. A bit reminiscent of his Curb lookalike Richard Lewis finding Larry David selling cars.
70 min: Hummels takes a Nuno Mendes cross full in the face and takes the opportunity to go down, much to Vitinha’s hopping-mad dismay. The clock now BVB’s friend.
68 min: PSG have been battering at the door since conceding, so Edin Terzic bolsters his back line by sacrificing Sancho for Sule.
67 min: Hummels is booked for the tackle. Asensio then batters a clueless free kick straight into the wall. They want a penalty, again, suggesting the ball pinged up off Maatsen’s arm, but there’s nothing doing there either.
66 min: Dembele bursts down the inside-right channel only to be upended by Hummels. The referee points to the spot … only to change his mind immediately! Just a free kick outside the box. And he’s right, though there was only an inch or two in it. VAR double-checks and it’s just a free kick to the right of the D. Wow.
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64 min: Barcola’s immediately into the thick of it, being dragged back by Sabitzer while in full flight down the middle. Sabitzer goes into the book.
62 min: Nuno Mendes cuts one back from the left. Gonçalo Ramos leans back and sends another shot over the bar from 12 yards! It’s Ramos’s last act of the evening; he’s replaced by Marco Asensio, while Fabián Ruiz makes way for Bradley Barcola.
61 min: Hakimi wins a corner down the right. The corner’s half cleared. Nuno Mendes, romping in from the left, meets the ball on the edge of the D and hammers a sensational shot off the base of the right-hand post. Kobel rooted to the spot! PSG so close to levelling the score on the evening and getting back into the tie. That’s the second time they’ve hit that post since the restart!
60 min: Dembele and Vitinha combine at speed down the right, the latter crossing low and hard for Gonçalo Ramos, who leans back on the penalty spot and larrups a riser over the bar. A big chance to work Kobel passes by.
58 min: Then again, should Mbappe find something … but his run down the left here is stopped by the tireless Sancho, diligently doing his defensive duty.
57 min: PSG look utterly rattled. All of a sudden, they’re all over the shop. A lot of gaps appearing at the back. If Dortmund keep their foot to the floor here, a killer blow to put this tie beyond the hosts may not be long in coming.
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56 min: Adeyemi is replaced by club legend Reus.
55 min: … and for a second, it looks as though the referee gives a penalty, Schlotterbeck going over in the box as the corner comes in. But he’s signalling for offside.
54 min: PSG are teetering on the edge here. Sancho and Ryerson combine to earn a corner down the right. Brandt to take …
53 min: Speaking of Beraldo, he copped for a slight shove in the back by Hummels seconds before the goal. Some justice after the one Nuno Mendes got away with on Niclas Füllkrug in the first leg?
51 min: PSG will be absolutely shattered, moments after Zaïre-Emery hit the post. They’ll need to clear their heads quickly, too, because Beraldo is very fortunate not to concede a free kick for obstruction as Sancho bursts down the right. The referee giving the hosts the benefit of the doubt there.
GOAL! PSG 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (Hummels 50); agg 0-2
Under pressure from Adeyemi, Marquinhos clanks another poor backpass towards Donnarumma, who can’t keep the ball in play. The corner’s sent long from the left. Hummels rises at the far stick and, unmarked, bashes an unstoppable header down and into the bottom-right corner. Dortmund extend their lead!
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49 min: That came from a quickly-taken corner. PSG have clearly been given the what-for and told to step it up by Luis Enrique.
47 min: Hakimi storms down the right and hits his cross low and hard. Ryerson deflects it wide left. Dortmund don’t deal with the resulting corner. Mbappe crosses from the left. Sabitzer eyebrows towards the far stick, where Zaïre-Emery has to score … but he slaps his shot against the right-hand upright and out! This tie should be level.
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46 min: The atmosphere remains electric. Another red pyro party has broken out behind Donnarumma’s goal.
Dortmund get the second half underway. No changes. “A rather cagey first half from both sides, painfully aware of what’s at stake, enlivened by the splendid Adeyemi whose irrepressible athleticism is a joy to behold,” writes Colum Fordham. “His solo run was glorious and even when he was knocked over, he got up with a wonderful back flip. A ray of light in an otherwise error-srewn first half.”
Half-time entertainment. The other semi-final is also delicately poised. Sid Lowe reports from Madrid, where it’ll all come down this time tomorrow.
HALF TIME: Paris Saint-Germain 0-0 Borussia Dortmund (agg 0-1)
BVB take one step closer to Wembley.
45 min: Mbappe probes down the inside-right channel. He rolls the ball across to Fabián Ruiz, who hits a wild shot that deflects off Schlotterbeck and inches wide of the left-hand post. Kobel was rooted. Nothing comes of the resulting corner, but that could have been disastrous for Dortmund.
44 min: Maatsen throws long from the left. Füllkrug wins a header in the PSG box but there’s nobody there to take advantage of the knockdown.
42 min: Vitinha sends a swerving but basically harmless shot straight at Kobel from distance.
41 min: Brandt has the opportunity to release Adeyemi into space down the left but faffs, allowing Marquinhos to strip him of possession. Füllkrug was way off the play, but appears to be moving freely.
39 min: Well, this is weird. Nobody comes on to see to Füllkrug, who eventually gets up again. That’s good to see, but all slightly strange. Then Mbappe and Gonçalo Ramos restart the game by giving the ball back to Dortmund … but only knocking it out for a throw deep in the visiting team’s territory. Schlotterbeck not happy. The referee tells him to pipe down.
38 min: Uh oh, this doesn’t look good for Füllkrug, who lands awkwardly and immediately waves across to his bench. Dortmund send the ball out of play so he can get some treatment.
36 min: Huge chances at either end! Fabián Ruiz cuts the ball back from the byline to the left of the Dortmund goal. Mbappe swipes at a shot but can’t get a proper connection. Suddenly Adeyemi breaks down the middle! He makes it as far as the edge of the Parisian box before aiming a low drive towards the bottom right. Donnarumma is equal to it! What a save. The Italian keeper keeps PSG in the Champions League!
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34 min: PSG are beginning to dominate possession … but that Dembele chance apart, they’re doing very little with it.
33 min: Zaïre-Emery wins a corner down the right. Dembele takes. Marquinhos can’t get a header on target, and is forced to chase after Füllkrug, who attempts to counter. Marquinhos drags Füllkrug down, and is fairly fortunate not to go into the book.
31 min: Mbappe sashays in from the left, drawing four yellow shirts towards him before rolling across for Zaïre-Emery, who immediately shuttles the ball down the inside-right channel for Dembele. It’s a good opportunity to shoot, albeit from a slightly tight angle; Dembele lashes it wildly wide and high. He should have worked Kobel at the very least.
30 min: Dortmund haven’t done much in attack so far. Sancho switches to the left flank in the hope of getting something going, only to telegraph a backheel intended to release Adeyemi.
29 min: If the PSG nerves are kicking in, the hosts aren’t being betrayed by them. The ball is stroked around the back patiently.
27 min: Fabián Ruiz hoicks over harmlessly from distance. A few whistles from the home fans, perhaps the first sign of nerves kicking in tonight.
25 min: Mbappe nearly gets the better of Ryerson down the left, so much so that the Dortmund full back is forced to backheel the ball out while prowling the byline on all fours in the pantomime-dog style. For some reason PSG aren’t awarded a corner, but there have been worse injustices in the Champions League this season. The penalty Füllkrug didn’t get in the first leg, for example.
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24 min: The pace drops a little for the first time this evening. Borussia Dortmund will be pretty pleased with the way this has gone so far; Kobel hasn’t had any serious work to do.
22 min: Hakimi has the opportunity to release Dembele down the right but overcooks his looped pass. Goal kick. “I prefer to think that Mbappe adheres to the boot philosophy of the character Milligan, in Spike Milligan’s Puckoon,” begins Stephen Davenport. “Black don’t show the dirt, brown ones don’t show the mud and a good pair of green boots won’t show the grass.”
20 min: Dembele fizzes a low shot-cum-cross through the Dortmund box from the right. Any touch on that and it’s deflected into the net, but there’s nobody in blue nearby.
19 min: Sancho isn’t deterred, though, and takes on Nuno Mendes again. He wins a corner, from which Ryerson lashes a doozy of a shot into the right-hand side netting. To repeat: this isn’t ending goalless. It won’t. It surely can’t.
17 min: Nuno Mendes was given a bit of a runaround by Sancho last week, so he does well here to block his opponent, who very nearly gets clear down the right with a drop of the shoulder. The well-timed insertion of a boot puts a stop to Sancho’s gallop.
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15 min: Ryerson powers his way down the right flank. He’s within his rights to go down under severe pressure from Nuno Mendes, but doggedly stays on his feet and makes it into the box, whereupon he loses control. Mbappe then attempts to break upfield with a balletic turn on the left touchline, but runs out of room. Throw. This is already shaping up to be a lot of fun, with both teams totally going for it.
13 min: PSG counter at speed, and Gonçalo Ramos spins on the edge of the D before lashing a first-time effort inches wide of the bottom left. Had that been on target, Kobel may not have got there in time. There’s no way this match is ending 0-0. Then again, the first leg really should have produced at least seven or eight goals, so you can never be 100 percent sure.
12 min: Marquinhos, under pressure from the speedy Adeyemi, fires a backpass towards Donnarumma that nearly foxes the keeper and finds the bottom right. Donnarumma does very well to stick out a leg to divert the ball away from danger. From the resulting throw, Adeyemi takes a shy at goal that’s deflected over for a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece.
10 min: This is being played at 101 kilometres for every one of your French hours. The referee letting it flow. “Pleased to see that, judging by his choice of green boots tonight, that Mbappe has finally made a decision on his future - he’s signing for Celtic. Yours delusionally, Stephen McCrossan.”
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8 min: Sancho instigates a high-paced one-two down the right with Sabitzer … but doesn’t get the return pass. Had Sabitzer noted his team-mate’s intention, Sancho was away down the flank.
7 min: PSG are getting a lot of joy down the right. It’s Dembele this time, who turns on the jets but can’t quite get clear of Adeyemi. He earns a corner, though. Dortmund don’t really deal with the set piece, and the ball drops towards Mbappe, just inside the box on the left. Mbappe meets it with a sweet volley, but there’s not enough oomph behind it, and that’s easy for Kobel too. The hosts will be very pleased with these early exchanges.
5 min: More room for Hakimi on the right wing. He looks for Gonçalo Ramos in the middle, but shanks his cross towards Kobel at the near post. The keeper gathers. Some positive early moves by the hosts.
4 min: Some space for Hakimi down the right. A low cross is met by Gonçalo Ramos, who hands out a leg and steers a shot straight at Kobel. Not enough power to fox the keeper.
2 min: Sancho takes his first touch of the evening. Whistles for the first leg’s man of the match. The home fans know a dangerman when they see one. Then a free kick to come in from the right. Maatsen curls it in, but it’s easy meat for Donnarumma. Still, that’ll give the visitors some early encouragement.
PSG, a goal behind after the first leg, get the second underway! Blistering noise rings around the Parc des Princes. Here we go, then!
The teams are out! PSG in blue and red, BVB in yellow and black. Music. Ce sont les meilleures équipes! Sie sind die allerbesten Mannschaften! These are the champions! What an atmosphere, with red pyrotechnics filling the spring Parisian sky. We’ll be off once Emre Can takes receipt of that pennant. Don’t look at it too closely, Emre, you’ve got to run about for 90 minutes.
Pennant watch: an update. “PSG have priors,” reports Joe Pearson. “Did similar when they met Sociedad earlier in the campaign.” My goodness, their designer really is earning their corn this season. Very nice as well, though a bit too fussy to be classified as funky. Or psychedelic. Having said that, you wouldn’t want to stare at it too long after a gourd of Mate and 20 B&H.
Pennant watch. This surely has to be the funkiest commemorative pennon in European Cup history. Does it count as psychedelic? Probably not, though you wouldn’t want to stare at it too long after a strong cup of sugary tea and a hand-rolled cigarette.
On jette un coup d'oeil dans le vestiaire ? 👀#PSGBVB I #UCL ✨ pic.twitter.com/UiQiXe6RkY
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside) May 7, 2024
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PSG make two changes to their starting XI after last week’s first leg. Gonçalo Ramos and Lucas Beraldo come in for Bradley Barcola, who drops to the bench, and Lucas Hernandez, who tore his ACL in Dortmund.
Borussia Dortmund are in If It Ain’t Broke mode. They name exactly the same XI that started their victory at the Westfalenstadion. In between times, they’ve beaten Augsburg 5-1 in the Bundesliga; PSG didn’t play last weekend.
The teams
PSG: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Lucas Beraldo, Nuno Mendes, Zaire Emery, Vitinha, Fabian, Dembele, Goncalo Ramos, Mbappe.
Subs: Navas, Ugarte, Asensio, Danilo Pereira, Lee, Muani, Mukiele, Carlos Soler, Barcola, Skriniar, Zague, Tenas.
Borussia Dortmund: Kobel, Ryerson, Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Maatsen, Sabitzer, Can, Sancho, Brandt, Adeyemi, Fullkrug.
Subs: Ozcan, Nmecha, Haller, Reus, Wolf, Moukoko, Malen, Sule, Meyer, Laurenz Lotka, Watjen, Bynoe-Gittens.
Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy).
Our lineup for tonight!#PSGBVB I #UCL ✨ pic.twitter.com/8NxTQ7eiCU
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) May 7, 2024
Wie im Hinspiel: Hier ist Borussias Startelf für den letzten Schritt in Richtung Wembley! ⭐️#PSGBVB #UCL pic.twitter.com/EhBHjpxqCV
— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) May 7, 2024
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Preamble
Last Wednesday this happened …
… and if tonight’s second leg at the Parc des Princes proves to be even half as entertaining, we’ll be lucky people indeed. Will Niclas Füllkrug score another peach? Can Kylian Mbappé and Achraf Hakimi hit the inside of both posts in the space of ten seconds again? Will referee Daniele Orsato (Italy) prove a more competent official than Anthony Taylor (Cheshire)? The answers are maybe, probably not, and yes of course. Kick off in Paris is at 8pm BST, 9pm local. It’s on!
