After defeating Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 on aggregate in the semi-final, Borussia Dortmund made their first appearance in the UEFA Champions League final in eleven years, courtesy to a strong header by Mats Hummels.
Mats Hummels’ thunderous header sealed an outstanding display from Dortmund during their UEFA Champions League semi-final match against Paris Saint-Germain, who missed the woodwork four times in the French capital.
Gonçalo Ramos was brought into Paris’ front line to lead an attack that included Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé as the team looked to overturn their 1-0 deficit and become the first team to do so in both their quarterfinal and final four matches in this competition.
As the home team started to apply pressure, two of that attacking three put Gregor Kobel to the test. However, neither Mbappé nor Ramos were able to get past Dortmund’s number one, with the Portuguese international also missing a clean volley following a deft move.
The first-leg striker Niclas Füllkrug utilized strength to elude his defender and then lay the ball in front of Julian Ryerson, who shot fiercely with the outside of his right boot and struck the side netting. The visitors tried to capitalize on this hold-up play.
After taking advantage of some uncommon space down the left side, Mbappé bounded across the area’s edge and found Warren Zaïre-Emery, who passed Dembélé, but the former BVB forward shot wide.
Just seconds after Hummels’ last-ditch intervention had stopped Mbappé from turning Fabián Ruiz’s cut-back goalward, Dortmund had to wait for their opportunity to pounce and nearly launch a devastating counterattack. Deep in the BVB half, Karim Adeyemi appeared to be running away, but Gianluigi Donnarumma matched the 22-year-old’s meager effort.
After hitting the woodwork twice in a row in the second half at Dortmund, Zaïre-Emery could only side-foot Ramos’ flick against the upright from close range, and Paris struck the frame of the goal once more soon after the break.
Edin Terzić’s Dortmund team extended their lead after just four minutes with an incredible set piece. Hummels, who had acquired some space at the far post, was picked out by Julian Brandt’s perfect corner. The 35-year-old, who began for Dortmund in the championship game at Wembley in 2013, deservedly headed the ball down and past Donnarumma’s diving save into the bottom corner.
Paris started to regularly pepper Kobel’s goal, although the woodwork tormented them when they did manage to beat the opposing keeper. Just beyond the box, Nuno Mendes pounced on a Dortmund clearance, but his shot struck the upright.
As the clock was running out, Luis Enrique’s team increased their pressure, and as Paris struck the woodwork for the fifth and sixth times in the match, Dortmund held on for a historic victory. Mbappé and Vitinha were both stopped by the goal’s frame.
