After all, on Tuesday evening in the Dortmund stadium, which was sold out with 81,365 spectators, there was no plain success to comment on, based on tactical cleverness and cool effectiveness, but rather to marvel at a dedicated Dortmund performance, which after the 1-2 defeat in the first leg in Madrid resulted in a 4: 2 victory for BVB.
Traumziel Wembley
The fifth-place team in the Bundesliga qualified for the round of the last four, as they did eleven years ago, and, as in the two group games last year, they will face the stars of Paris Saint-Germain in Dortmund on May 1st or 2nd. First at home and a week later for the second leg in Prinzenpark.
It goes without saying that, like in 2013, the black and yellow are now once again aiming for the dream destination of Wembley Stadium, where the final will take place on June 1st – possibly like back then against FC Bayern Munich, but this Wednesday evening (9 p.m. in the FAZ). Live ticker for the Champions League and on DAZN) first of all how Dortmund has to survive the quarter-finals.
The first leg against Arsenal FC ended 2-2 in London. Should the Munich team prevail, they would face one of the European giants, defending champions Manchester City or record winners Real Madrid, in the semi-finals.
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Back to the present, back to Borussia Dortmund, who gave themselves and the BVB fans richer than they have in a long time on Tuesday evening and also with a furious energy performance. After the 2-0 lead thanks to low shots from the strong Julian Brandt (34th minute) and the Dutch full-back Ian Maatsen (39th), the signs already seemed set for victory. Are you kidding me? Are you serious when you say that. First of all, we had to digest the setback after the break caused by Mats Hummels’ own goal in a failed rescue attempt (49th) and Correa’s equalizer (64th) to make it 2-2.
Completely detached: Dortmund’s Marcel Sabitzer celebrates his goal to make it 4-2.AFP
The Westphalians quickly put up with the Madrilenians’ two goals and promptly saw them as an incentive to put things right again. What followed were two moments of mass ecstasy when Niclas Füllkrug headed 3-2 after a goal-oriented cross from the outstanding playmaker Marcel Sabitzer after nine competitive games without a goal (71st) and the Austrian motorist (“if 80,000 tear down the stadium here, Do you want to tear it down?”, who had also made it 2-0, increased it to 4-2 three minutes later with a magnificent long-range shot. After that, nothing worked for the fourth-placed team in the Spanish league on this Westphalian football festival evening.
“The stadium burned”
At the end, even the Ultras sang the old German winning song, “Such a day as beautiful as today” in the southern stand, which was a stronghold of atmosphere. All the Borussia players who talked about this evening for the Dortmund history books raved highly about a gala that had not been seen in this condensed form against a renowned opponent for a long time. Center forward Niclas Füllkrug, for example, a cool North German, enthused: “It was really magical today. The stadium burned.”
Coach Edin Terzic was happy that his players had “shown everything they needed to get into the semi-finals”. Terzic, always doubted and always at a loss for a sporting answer, was as proud as Bolle of his team, which is tied for fifth place in the Bundesliga with RB Leipzig and has to fight hard to qualify for the next championship. League round to qualify in a new format.
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In order to defeat the team led by French superstar Antoine Griezmann, what was needed above all was unshakable self-confidence, even in challenging periods of the game such as the first twenty minutes after the break. “It won’t work without faith,” said Terzic, referring to his team’s unbroken confidence this time in finding their way out of a difficult passage in this turbulent duel.
“We left a huge thing behind,” he recalled in the third minute, when Sabitzer, who had not yet got up to speed, wasted a great opportunity to take the lead, “and still played an extremely good first half. We scored four goals against Atlético Madrid – not many people do that.”
The Dortmund boss, managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke, who became a Westphalian enthusiast that evening, was also as smitten as Terzic. “This is a proud day for all Borussia players,” he emphasized, “it was a roller coaster ride. You have to manage to return like that first.”
Wembley calling? The Borussia team will be smart enough to concentrate on the German-French second part with everything that sparkled in black and yellow on Tuesday and to tackle the final Bundesliga homework with fresh enthusiasm. “The final,” said Terzic cheerfully late on Tuesday evening, “you have to earn it. There are two games until then. And once you’re there, it makes sense to fight for the final.”
