Germany – At the end of a completely crazy match, Borussia Dortmund qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League, winning 4-2 against Atlético Madrid, to climb for the first time since 2013 in the last square of the C1.
Euphoria in the first half, disillusionment at the start of the second act and madness for two and a half minutes: the 81,365 spectators at the Westfalenstadion went through all the emotions on Tuesday evening.
Marco Reus, who is expected to be present on Wednesday, and Felipe Santana scored two goals in extra time to help Dortmund advance to the semifinals against Malaga in 2013. The oldest of them must have recalled that match.
Edin Terzic’s team will play Paris SG in the semi-finals at the start of May. Paris SG upset FC Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the championship match, and they will look to emulate Jürgen Klopp’s team, who were the 2013 Wembley finalists against Bayern Munich (losing 2-1). Germany will host the first leg, and the Parc des Princes will host the second leg one week later.
Coming out first in an extremely tough group with Paris SG, AC Milan and Newcastle, Borussia Dortmund thus continues an extraordinary European journey, eliminating Antoine Griezmann’s Atlético Madrid, after a demonstration in the first period.
The Yellow and Blacks, deprived of their first-leg scorer Sébastien Haller, were forced to come back a goal behind after big defensive errors in Madrid from Ian Maatsen and the defensive duo Mats Hummels/Nico Schlotterbeck.
Emre Can’s teammates were the first to be dangerous in front of Jan Oblak’s goal in the 3rd minute. On a pass from Julian Brandt, Karim Adeyemi managed to serve Marcel Sabitzer alone from seven meters, but the Austrian international controlled the ball and allowed the last-minute return of César Azpilicueta.
150 seconds of madness
Alvazo Morata, launched deep and faster than Sabitzer, had the opportunity two minutes later to cool the atmosphere in Dortmund but missed his spiked ball against Gregor Kobel.
By depending on Oblak’s saves, Atlético gave up possession of the ball to Borussia Dortmund. However, a powerful shot from Brandt, which was excellently served on a brilliant ball from the outside of Hummels’ foot, found the Slovenian goalkeeper helpless soon after the half-hour mark.
As Maatsen did when Dortmund’s second goal came just five minutes after the first, the 2014 world champion also atoned for his error in the first leg by pressing hard on the weak point in Madrid’s defense.
Following a beautiful backheel from Sabitzer, Maatsen found himself alone and perfectly crossed his left shot to free the Westfalenstadion.
Atlético Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann disappointed after the elimination in the quarter-final of the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund, in Dortmund on April 16, 2024. (AFP – Odd ANDERSEN)
The return from the locker room turned into a disaster for Dortmund, put under pressure by the three changes of Diego Simeone (Riquelme, Angel Correa and Pablo Barrios). On a corner taken without power from Mario Hermoso, Hummels wrong-footed his goalkeeper and revived the Madrilenians.
A quarter of an hour later, while Atlético regained control of the match, Correa logically equalized, a goal which allowed his team to regain qualification.
But on a cross from Sabitzer in the 71st minute, Niclas Füllkrug catapulted the ball into Oblak’s goal with the help of the post to put Dortmund back in the direction of the game.
Sabitzer made a totally insane turn in the game less than 150 seconds later, which gave Dortmund the advantage over the two games combined.
Omnipresent, the former Bayern Munich player was very close to killing all suspense at the start of the last five minutes, but Oblak repelled his attempt from 25 meters with a superb save.
