Four posts hit today and a total of 14 for the tournament—unbelievable. Borussia Dortmund is in the Champions League final! This is the main sensation of the current tournament. Edin Terzic’s team knocked out PSG and will play in the final against the winner of the Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich match. Unlike the match in Dortmund, Luis Enrique decided to play with a true center forward—Ramush. The Portuguese operated at the spearhead of a 4-3-3 formation, with Dembele and Mbappe on the flanks. Of course, Kylian was only nominally tied to the left edge. He often shifted towards Ramush, entering Dortmund’s penalty area. Generally, with PSG in possession, they formed a back three and used the entire width of the field thanks to the two flank players. Interestingly, it was often midfielder Ruiz who ended up in this trio of defenders, responsible for advancing the ball. But advancing was not so easy. Dortmund defended compactly with a mid-block, effectively protecting the center of the field.
Mbappe was the first for PSG to strike in the sixth minute—hitting the target. But it was a shot of little concern for goalkeeper Kobel. Otherwise, the Parisians made more use of the right flank in their attack, where they tried to ignite Dembele and Hakimi. It was so-so in the first half. For example, Usman had 16 turnovers in 45 minutes. Center forward Ramush had a moment when Dortmund made a rare mistake in transitions, opening a space between the lines. Vitinha immediately found the Portuguese with a through pass at the edge of the area, and he turned and shot dangerously with his second touch. This episode showed that with PSG, you cannot lose concentration for a second. However, overall, the game until halftime went according to Edin Terzic’s plan. Dortmund controlled the ball when possible—slowing down the pace and finding free space. Dortmund organized several promising counterattacks. Sancho pulled his opponents on the right, performing three dribbles. And the best chance to score after a quick counterattack was had by Adeyemi, who outran the Parisian defenders at his insane speed. But Donnarumma was prepared with saves for this match.
PSG notably increased their intensity at home after the break in this Champions League’s playoffs, and in the first minutes of the second half against Dortmund, the hosts turned up the speed and increased the number of players at the opponent’s goal. They quickly created a scoring opportunity—Zaire-Emery hit the post from a lethal position. Paris was unlucky. And Dortmund was very lucky! Not only in that episode but also a few minutes later when Terzic’s team earned a corner out of nowhere. Following the delivery, the inexperienced Beraldo lost in the air to the wise Hummels, who scored with his head. Found in a situation where they needed to recover from two goals down, PSG forgot about balance and threw everything they had at Dortmund’s goal. But fortune continued to smile broadly on Terzic’s team, and Kobel’s left post kept attracting the ball. Mendes hit it with a long-range shot. Since things weren’t going well for Ramush either, Luis Enrique changed his center forward, and Mbappe took the lead.
PSG had fewer traditional forwards, and Dortmund gained more real defenders. Terzic switched to a 5-4-1, bringing on Sule, who is increasingly looking not so much like a football player as a budding sumo wrestler. Nevertheless, the main thing was that Dortmund was not a heavyweight team. They closed everything down in defense—the yellow wall without a single crack.
Only in the 86th minute did a moment occur after which the entire Parc des Princes sighed—Mbappe hit the crossbar! A minute later, Vitinha fired from distance into the crossbar. Just incredible luck for Dortmund, although apart from the episodes with the posts, PSG didn’t create clear scoring opportunities. The last missed opportunity for Luis Enrique’s team was an attack that ended with Kilian falling in the penalty area—the referee Orsato refused to award a penalty. Mbappe finished the game with 12 touches in the opponent’s penalty area, five shots, three dribbles, and two passes leading to shots, yet he made no effective actions. The Germans “ate” the French star in two matches. The most incredible thing is PSG’s statistics for hitting the goal frame in this UCL. Four today and 14 for the entire season—such a thing has never happened in the history of the tournament. And today the hosts notched up 3.22 expected goals against 0.76 for the guests. But who cares about that now?