Hummels stuns PSG to send Dortmund into Champions League final

PARIS:

Mats Hummels headed in the only goal as Borussia Dortmund stunned Kylian Mbappe and Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final on Tuesday, winning 1-0 on the night and advancing 2-0 on aggregate to next month’s final in Wembley. .

Hummels struck five minutes into the second half at the Parc des Princes and PSG were unable to find a response, the hosts unlucky as they hit the woodwork four times in total.

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

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

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

“It will take us a while to realize it, but we’re looking forward to it tremendously,” Dortmund coach Edin Terzic told Amazon Prime TV in the run-up to the final.

“We did it somehow, getting to London.”

The story of this semi-final, however, is about PSG’s failure in yet another crucial knockout tie in the competition.

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

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

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

“We weren’t clinical enough. They scored two goals, one from a corner and one from a long ball. We created many more chances, many more of them, but we didn’t take them,” PSG captain Marquinhos told Canal Plus.

“We came so close and we wanted to get to the final. But we had to win tonight and be more clinical, and we weren’t.”

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

Luis Enrique’s side had beaten Dortmund 2-0 at home in the group stage and were safe in the knowledge that a repeat of that performance would be enough.

The PSG manager made a major selection decision, dropping Bradley Barcola and bringing in Portuguese forward Goncalo Ramos. This meant Bappé’s move from the middle to the left wing.

Dortmund would have prepared for an attack from the opening, but it did not happen.

Mbappe took just seven minutes to score his first effort, but his volley was easily saved by Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.

The hosts had most of the possession but struggled to get Mbappe into the game, the France captain often looking isolated on the wings.

It was actually Dortmund who had the best chance of the first half when Karim Adejemi broke through on the counter-attack before seeing his shot saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

He felt the home side had to change something or risk going out with a whimper.

They should have gone ahead two minutes after the restart when Ramos latched on to a Mbappe clearance in the box, but Warren Zaire-Emery managed to hit the post from close range.

This was to prove crucial as Dortmund struck moments later.

PSG conceded a corner cheaply, and Julian Brandt’s delivery from Dortmund’s right was met by Hummels.

Ramos swept a shot wide in stoppage time before Nuno Mendes became PSG’s second player to hit the right-hand post, this time with a powerful shot from distance.

It was starting to look like it wasn’t going to be PSG’s night and Luis Enrique realized he had to act as he sent on Barcola and Marco Asensio for Ramos and Fabian Ruiz, moving Bape into the middle.

Dortmund sent on an extra defender in the hulking Niklas Suele and withstood everything PSG threw at them while also being helped by the goal post.

Cobel turned Mbappe’s shot onto the post in the 86th minute and Vitinha also rattled the woodwork, but Dortmund held on to book their date in London.