There were fireworks somewhere in the Rote Erde stadium, which is right next to the Westfalenstadion. Long after midnight, Julian Brandt stood in the drafty passageway between the old and new BVB venues. He had just come out of the cabin. He couldn’t see the fireworks – but he could hear them. Like a few fans who, no longer completely sober and still hopelessly euphoric, bawled out “Eviva Espana”. Brandt had to smile. “It’s all unbelievable, every fan showed me a happy face today,” he said: “We often talk about the magical nights. This is one today.”
No matter which Dortmund player came out of the catacombs late at night, they all had a big grin on their face. What they had previously experienced in their 4:2 (2:0) win over Atlético Madrid was extraordinary. It had been a long time since the stadium was as loud as it was on this Tuesday evening. It was like an explosion of emotions.
“That’s extreme, that’s crazy,” said Niclas Füllkrug, who made a decisive contribution to BVB being among the top four club teams in Europe for the first time in eleven years – BVB of all teams, which has often been in the current season was so disappointed. “If you look at where I come from this whole season, what I’ve experienced in my career – that I’m now in the semi-finals of the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund – it doesn’t matter whether I’ve scored in nine games before or not,” said Niclas Füllkrug.
Sebastian Kehl goes into raptures
It took the experienced striker, now 31, a long time to reach such heights. He only came to Dortmund last summer; it is his first ever Champions League season. Most recently he had jammed loading. If his rival Sébastien Haller hadn’t been injured, Füllkrug probably wouldn’t have played from the start in the second leg against Atlético.
Who knows how things would have turned out without him. Füllkrug’s goal to make it 3-2 had brought about a decisive turning point in this dramatic game: in the 71st minute he was able to head a perfect cross ball from the outstanding Marcel Sabitzer into the goal. “At first I thought: Oh, it hits the post. But then he turned in perfectly. Then it was clear to me: Now we’re going to do this thing,” said Füllkrug. Four minutes later, Sabitzer made it 4-2.
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“The way the team performed, how they approached the game, how they turned it around – a big compliment to everyone,” said Sebastian Kehl after the thriller, in which the team primarily showed attributes that have helped them in recent years Pressure situations had been agreed upon. “We showed great morale, mentality and will to win,” said the sports director. BVB put the Spaniards under pressure from the start. In contrast to the first leg, which was lost 2-1, everything seemed to work: quick changes of sides threw Atlético’s defense into disarray and there was constant fire in the opponent’s penalty area. The attacks, usually initiated by Sabitzer or Brandt, met the highest demands in terms of imagination and speed. Dortmund led 2-0 at the break.
A bad déjà vu and the amazing twist
The fans went wild with joy – only to be caught off guard. First Mats Hummels deflected a header from Mario Hermoso into his own goal, then the equalizer had to be swallowed up by Angel Correa (49th and 64th). Silence in the stands. At that moment, many of the 81,000 had a bad déjà vu: Isn’t this exactly the BVB of the last few years? Who can’t achieve anything, not even a championship that was believed to be certain on the last matchday of last season?
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No, this time it was different – thanks to the support of the fans and because Dortmund are already a class better internationally than in everyday league life. “The way we marched through the group phase and performed in the knockout phase shows that we have a lot of quality, that we have grown together and matured,” said Kehl. The team, whose composition had repeatedly been doubted, had taken a “giant step”.
She lacks balance. Kehl in particular had to justify himself more often than not. It is quite possible that this will have to be reassessed again – which should then shed a better light on the sports director. Kehl was long considered a promising candidate for management following the departure of Hans-Joachim Watzke, which was announced in January. However, his promotion has now been a suspiciously long time coming.
However, this and the long disappointing Bundesliga season were not an issue for this special evening. “It’s a proud day for all Borussia players,” said Watzke, who first suffered in the stands next to his personal advisor Matthias Sammer – and then celebrated. “To be among the best four teams in Europe is quite a statement,” explained Kehl.
Next opponent PSG – then to London?
It remains unclear where BVB’s path, which still has to stretch in the Bundesliga in order to qualify for the Champions League again, will lead. If Tuesday’s energy performance is any guide, then the two upcoming difficult tasks against Leverkusen on Sunday and then in Leipzig, BVB’s competitor for fourth place, would also lose a lot of their horror.
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The remarkable journey continues in the current Champions League season. FC Paris St. Germain, with whom coach Edin Terzic’s team already faced in the group phase, awaits in the semi-finals. It was 0-2 in Paris and 1-1 at home. “I think we are a much more stable and better team than we were in September and November,” said Terzic. First on May 1st in Dortmund and then on May 8th. played in Paris.
BVB is an outsider. However, that doesn’t have to mean anything, explained Füllkrug: “We will enjoy it. Now there is only one destination: Wembley.” The final will take place there on June 1st. Dortmund were last in London in 2013 – and lost 2-1 to FC Bayern with Jürgen Klopp at the helm.
