Two hits of the ball on the crossbar of one of the goals at St James’ Park defined Borussia Dortmund’s season, a few centimeters lower and perhaps everything would have been different for the team that few expected in the final, but everyone was waiting in the starting line. In the end, they succumbed alone in the final and against a Real Madrid that they put on the ropes until Carvajal’s header goal in the 74th minute. “We have competitive disadvantages compared to multimillion-dollar clubs; We have to earn our own money, and also seek to sell players repeatedly,” Sebastian Kehl, sports director and former player of the club, explained weeks ago. Against the Spanish team the difference in budget and squad was not evident until those final minutes when their resistance broke down. The season, however, is one to frame. The road to Wembley bears witness to this.
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Gregor Kobel, Julian Ryerson, Hummels, Ian Maatsen, Nico Schlotterbeck, M. Sabitzer, Emre Can (Malen, min. 80), Brandt (Sébastian Haller, min. 80), Jadon Sancho (Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, min. 86) , Karim Adeyemi (Marco Reus, min. 72) and Füllkrug
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Courtois, Nacho, Dani Carvajal, Rüdiger, Ferland Mendy, Jude Bellingham (Joselu, min. 85), Camavinga, Federico Valverde, Kroos (Modric, min. 85), Vinicius Junior (Lucas Vázquez, min. 93) and Rodrygo (Eder Military, min. 90)
Goals 0-1 min. 73: Dani Carvajal. 0-2 min. 82: Vinicius Junior.
Referee Slavko Vincic
Yellow cards Vinicius Junior (min. 34), Nico Schlotterbeck (min. 40), M. Sabitzer (min. 43) and Hummels (min. 78)
Because after selling Bellingham and Haaland a year earlier, the Dortmund team prepared to compete in one of the toughest groups in memory in the first phase of the Champions League. Paris Saint-Germain, Milan and Newcastle challenged him. After the first two games they had barely earned a point: they lost 2-0 at the Parc des Princes and drew goalless when they hosted Milan. Those two shots by Callum Wilson, in the 87th minute, and by Anthony Gordon, in the 94th minute, could have changed everything, but for Dortmund, Felix Nmecha’s goal was enough. “It was the victory of commitment and heart,” Kehl explained after the game.
Back in the Bundesliga, a draw in a very open duel against Eintracht and a rout at home against Bayern: seven goals conceded in two games that turned the way in the domestic competition. But he righted himself in Europe. Niclas Füllkrug — “he won all the duels with his head against two bulls,” legend Mathias Sammer stated in his comments on television — and Julian Brandt sealed a new victory against Newcastle and almost unexpectedly the team found themselves leading the group of death. One point behind was PSG; two, Milan and three, the English were left. There were two days left and the opportunity to seal a place in the round of 16 at San Siro before the end of November. There were no doubts. 1-3, memorable performance by veteran Mats Hummels leading the defense and celebration with goals from Marco Reus, the very young Englishman Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Karim Adeyemi. Coach Edin Terzic, a fan of the club since he was a child, placed Hummels’ performance at the level of the best Jürgen Kohler.
“I guess few people expected to see us here,” Kehl decided upon finding himself in the round of 16. “We are on the right path,” he concluded. They achieved it with a draw (1-1) against PSG that led them towards a friendly draw at the start of the playoffs. The hype provided a match against PSV Eindhoven, but the news came in the middle of a dark December, with no victories in the Bundesliga and Kehl’s decision to have two former teammates of his, Nuri Sahin and Sven Bender, join Terzic’s coaching staff. The former Madrid player even had to leave his job as a coach at Turkish side Antalyaspor. It was not the only revival because at that time the club was also negotiating with Manchester United the loan of Jadon Sancho, transferred less than three years earlier to Old Trafford for 85 million euros.
Sancho was decisive in the tie against PSV. He scored in the second leg after the draw (1-1) in the first leg on Brabant soil. Borussia suffered before closing the victory (2-0) in front of his people, folded in the area and under the inquisitive gaze of Mathias Sammer, who at that point had also returned to the club as an “advisor”. What happened next was defined by Mats Hummels with German irony shortly after securing a ticket to the final at Wembley. “A lot of teams wanted to play against us. Luckily we are very good kids and we reached the final so that as many of them as possible have the opportunity,” he wrote on the social network
In the quarterfinals came the final shot: he left Atlético behind after losing (2-1) at the Metropolitano and feeling on the ropes again. But Sebastian Haller, the forward who overcame testicular cancer and who had until then had a lackluster campaign, scored the goal that revived the team in the final stretch of that event in Madrid. The return in Dortmund also appealed to the team’s resistance, which at the beginning of the second half saw the colchoneros equalize a two-goal lead. But in front of the yellow wall Füllkrug and Sabitzer scored in an explosive epilogue.
There remained a new challenge against PSG that was resolved with two narrow victories, again with Füllkrug as the stiletto in the first leg in the first duel on the German court and Hummels, the team leader, in Paris. Luis Enrique appealed to bad luck to give courage to his team, which sent the ball into the woodwork six times in the tie and in the second leg finished 31 times, but he also warned: “Dortmund has the same chances of win the Champions League than the other finalist.” And that’s how it looked. Until he fell to the success of Carvajal and the magic of Vinicius.
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