German Borussia Dortmund beat for the second time French “Paris Saint-Germain” and reached the Champions League final for the first time since 2013. Sports share their emotions from the brilliant match in Paris, during which fans witnessed the hosts' terrible bad luck and Kylian Mbappe's dashed hopes of winning the Champions League with PSG.
UEFA Champions League07 May 2024 • kicks off at 22:00Finished
PSGFrance0 : 1
Borussia Germany
50' • Mats Hummels (Julian Brandt)
PSG failed in Dortmund It’s hard to believe, but today the teams played their fourth head-to-head match in the 2023/24 season coming to an end. Last week in Dortmund, PSG underestimated the underdog and flew out of Germany as losers – the shot down of Mbappe, whose thoughts are already in Real Madrid, the unacceptable mistakes of Ousmane Dembele and the chic atmosphere in the arena allowed the “bumblebees” to survive.
The Germans arrived in Paris with a home victory (the only goal was scored by Niklas Füllkrug) and the intention, 11 years later, to go to London again for the decisive Champions League match.
However, do not forget that the teams played together in the “group of death”, from which they were able to leave, leaving the Italian “Milan” and the English “Newcastle” out of the playoffs. At the group stage, the Parisians first won at home (2:0), and on the road they separated peacefully (1:1) – that meeting was remembered by the brilliant save of defender Niklas Sule, who cleared the ball from an empty goal.
The Bumblebees survived…Despite the fact that the French champions had 270 minutes to study Borussia in this Champions League draw, with a hack The guests' defense immediately encountered problems. Edin Terzic's players not only made no mistakes in defense (zero dangerous moments at Gregor Kobel's goal in the first half hour), but also strained Paris with counterattacks. In the 34th minute, two-meter goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma “failed” and saved the hosts after a tight shot from Karim Adeyemi.
However, closer to the break, things became more difficult for the Bumblebees. World champions in the French national team Mbappe, completely different from himself at first, and Dembele were torn apart on the flank, and only problems with finishing attacks saved the Germans from conceding goals in the first half.
…and then they stung Having taken their breath during the break, PSG, with new instructions from Luis Enrique, rushed to the assault. And then he created a 100% chance: after a corner, Mbappe crossed to Goncalo Ramos, who passed it to the far post, where Warren Zaire-Emery stood alone. Which managed not to hit the empty corner – the bar came to the rescue of the Germans… But the PSG bar decided not to help. In the 50th minute, the favorites played mediocrely after a corner kick at their own goal and Mats Hummels opened the scoring, stunning the packed Parc des Princes.
As elimination from the Champions League inexorably approached, the Parisians continued to squander their chances. Vitinha did everything for Ramos to equalize the score, but the Portuguese managed to miss the target. A minute later – the barbell again! Nuno Mendes risked not breaking into the defense, but charging from a distance – Kobel was left out of action, but the same left post chalked up a second save.
What is “bad luck” and how to deal with it? PSG did not have answers to this question. After all, after the bar, the crossbar made everyone talk about itself: it played twice for Borussia in the 86th and 88th minutes! Mbappe was left alone in the penalty area, but hit the woodwork. Vitinha decided to shoot from a distance, and again the crossbar was high. It is not known who cursed Paris that evening, but fans have not seen such catastrophic bad luck on the football field for a long time.
Congratulations to the Parisians on the Champions League record for the number of shots into the goal frame (14 per season, this has not happened for 20 years), and We wish Borussia the same luck in the final. Over the course of two matches, Dortmund never conceded a single goal to Mbappe and company, giving departing legend Marco Reus the opportunity to take the “eared” Champions League trophy at his second attempt.
* * *The other semi-final will take place today in Madrid: in 22:00 Moscow time Real Madrid and Bayern Munich will compete for a second ticket to London's Wembley Arena. The first meeting turned out to be sparkling, but the winner could not be identified – 2:2.
As for the final the main club tournament of the Old World, it will be held on June 1.
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