(Football news) Because to last week’s 1-0 loss at Signal Iduna Park, where one of Dortmund’s legends played a Champions League home game for BVB for the very final time, the French champions are 90 minutes away from a very familiar kind of misery in Europe.
Former Dortmund attacker Ousmane Dembele in particular had a nightmare match against his old team as PSG wasted numerous opportunities in the first leg. BVB talisman Niclas Fullkrug gave Luis Enrique’s team a lesson in merciless attacking.
With 36 minutes on the clock, the Germany international made a brilliant run to meet Nico Schlotterbeck’s ball over the top, took a delightful touch and fired a ferocious low effort past Gianluigi Donnarumma, thereby netting in the 2023-24 Champions League – his European Cup debut season – for the third time.
Dortmund also registered their fifth clean sheet of this season’s Champions League thanks to the profligacy of PSG, who were at least blessed with a weekend off from Ligue 1 matters in preparation for Tuesday’s tantalising second leg, although they have already run away with the top-flight title yet again.
Close yet no cigar has always been the theme for Les Parisiens in the Champions League, but Enrique’s side have already reversed a first-leg deficit against Barcelona in the quarter-finals and could now become the first team in tournament history to reach the final after losing their opening quarter and semi-final battles.
A seven-game run without a clean sheet in all competitions will not do PSG any favours in that regard – nor will winning just three of their last eight matches at the Parc des Princes – but not since the opening weekend of the 2023-24 Ligue 1 season have Enrique’s men failed to score on home territory.
Bidding to break PSG’s 24-game scoring sequence at the Parc des Princes en route to an unforeseen Champions League final, Dortmund proudly boast the label of defensive masters in this season’s European Cup; a fifth shutout in last week’s slender success represents the highest tally of any team in the tournament.
Putting one foot in the Wembley showpiece was the perfect response to a Bundesliga slump, which had seen Edin Terzic’s men draw with champions Bayer Leverkusen and suffer a 4-1 humbling versus RB Leipzig, but the visit of Augsburg to the Signal Iduna Park on Sunday was a foregone conclusion inside just 30 minutes.
One day after announcing his exit from Dortmund at the end of the season, the beloved Marco Reus lit up the Westfalenstadion with one goal and two assists in the 5-1 demolition, while the juvenile Youssoufa Moukoko – potentially the heir to his departing teammate – chipped in with a brace of his own.
Dortmund’s need for Champions League supremacy is no longer so great, though, as beating PSG last week ensured that the Bundesliga would receive a fifth Champions League spot based on their UEFA coefficient, and Terzic’s men are guaranteed to finish either fourth or fifth in the rankings.
Although the visitors have lost three previous meetings on PSG’s field, losing 2-0 in the group stage and only managing one shot on goal the entire game, the coefficient safety net will undoubtedly not cause them to perform any worse. If PSG were to repeat this resounding victory, the only teams standing in their way of that elusive European honor would be Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.
Though they will go into the French city with a great deal of confidence that they can win, Dortmund will be making their first Champions League final appearance since 2013, when they lost to Bayern, who would go on to become their opponents in 2024, at Wembley, the same venue for this year’s spectacular match.
Also read: Real Madrid will play Bayern Munich in UCL’s 2nd Leg
