Borussia Dortmund will face either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich at Wembley Stadium next month in the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League final, after doubling their aggregate advantage against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.
Already leading after Niclas Füllkrug’s first-leg decider in Dortmund a week ago, Mats Hummels nodded home at the start of the second half to keep dreams of a fairytale farewell for Marco Reus alive.
The midfielder recently announced that after a twelve-year-long stay with die Borussen, he will draw the curtains on his illustrious career with the club at the end of the season.
As it happened
Last week’s first leg at the Signal Iduna Park could be defined by missed opportunities – and as the semifinal spotlight descended on the Parc des Princes on Wednesday, that same narrative continued.
Paris Saint-Germain had been unlucky not to level the match on aggregate in the opening minutes of the second half, with Warren Zaïre-Emery’s close-range effort rattling the woodwork.
It would prove to be a costly mistake for the Parisians, who swiftly found themselves trailing by two aggregate goals when Mats Hummels was left unmarked inside the box and was able to nod Julian Brandt’s corner delivery past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Embed from Getty ImagesTuesday’s hosts were far from dead and buried though – Nuno Mendes struck the post before a penalty appeal was waved away by referee Daniele Orsato, who judged that Hummels’ challenge on Ousmane Dembélé was fractionally outside of the box.
There was no shortage of chances for PSG to draw level, with Kylian Mbappé and Vitinha both seeing efforts denied by the crossbar as the match came to a close.
Should Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid in Spain on Wednesday, this year’s UEFA Champions League final will be a repeat of the 2013 showpiece event – in which Bayern prevailed 2-1 at Wembley.
The lineups
PSG: Donnarumma; Mendes, Beraldo, Marquinhos, Hakimi; Ruiz, Vitinha, Zaïre-Emery; Mbappé, Ramos, Dembélé
BVB: Kobel; Maatsen, Schlotterbeck, Hummels, Ryerson; Can, Sabitzer; Adeyemi, Brandt, Sancho; Füllkrug
