Dortmund in Champions League final is a reason to celebrate football but they must not pop open the champagne yet
Football: Dortmund back in UCL final at Wembley
Champions League – Semi Final – Second Leg – Paris St Germain v Borussia Dortmund – Parc des Princes, Paris, France – May 7, 2024 Borussia Dortmund’s Youssoufa Moukoko, Mats Hummels, Salih Ozcan and Marco Reus celebrate after the match. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach)
It was fitting that Mats Hummels was the one who headed home the goal which eventually sealed the Champions League final spot for Borussia Dortmund. Those who have followed the club over the past decade may have preferred Marco Reus to do the honors but this was more befitting.
Ousted by Bayern Munich after just one game, it was during his eight-year stint at Dortmund that Hummels had become one of the most reliable centre-halves in the world. So much so that the serial Bundesliga winners in Munich came back calling again, this time with a five-year contract. Multiple injuries, a considerable dip in form, tensions behind the scenes with the management, and his stay was cut short in 2019. It was a bad break up that left the 31-year-old being referred to as a ‘washed’ defender. Which is when Dortmund took him under the cloak again.
At 35, if anything, Hummels has been Dortmund’s standout performer in the Champions League this season. A confident central defensive figure, who hasn’t just been brave with his tackles and astute with his markings, but has also been the unspoken leader of their stern backline. A towering header on a night even Kylian Mbappe failed to find the target – thanks in large part to him – was further reaffirmation of his return to being at his very best. That’s why Hummels’s scoring and Dortmund winning is a modern day sporting fairytale that needs to be celebrated.
Poaching-land becomes promise-land?
Hummels wasn’t the first Dortmund talent to be poached by Bayern, and he hasn’t been the last. Over the years, the club has become a popular hunting ground for buyers with deeper pockets. Dortmund has provided an excellent base for players to grow but haven’t been the compulsive title winners, nor a consistent contender. It has only felt like the obvious next step for their star players to move elsewhere with brighter prospects. The mind boggles at the what if scenarios that would have transpired had the club been able to keep them longer than they did: Robert Lewandowski, Ilkay Gundogan, Erling Haaland, and most recently, Jude Bellingham.
It’s been pondered then, why don’t Dortmund just go down the way many of their European contemporaries have in recent times to change their fortunes – invite an outside investor to pump in more funds? It’s because they cannot, courtesy of the 50+1 rule. A rule that binds Bundesliga clubs from giving away majority stakes to foreign investors.
UCL: Dortmund win vs PSG
Soccer Football – Champions League – Semi Final – Second Leg – Paris St Germain v Borussia Dortmund – Parc des Princes, Paris, France – May 7, 2024 Borussia Dortmund’s Julian Ryerson with teammates celebrate after the match. (REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier)
A club binded by financial constraints, often outmuscled and bullied by those with bigger vaults, getting the better of a multi-billion dollar project to reach the pinnacle of the sport is a feat rarely seen in modern times. It was what Dortmund achieved last night, and how.
PSG had 70 percent share of the ball possession, a total of 30 shots, and yet, didn’t find the target. The xG (Expected Goals) rate of the home side was 3.25, and yet, the ball couldn’t cross the goal line. It wasn’t just in Paris, Dortmund remained unpenetrated across the two legs. A comprehensive win that has put the club one win away from becoming a promise-land, rather than poaching-land.
Last year, on the cusp of a league title win, BVB sporting director Sebastian Kehl had shared what winning big titles will do for the club’s image. “That means we can show the players we can not only develop them, not only produce potential to sell at some points, but we are also able to win trophies. To convince them and their families and their agents. Of course this is important because if you play only for getting fifth in the points table then you can tell them you want to be ambitious, you want to win, but at some point you need to deliver. We would be happy if that would happen this season. That will increase not only our standing in Germany but in Europe.” Imagine what winning the Champions League would do for Dortmund. Whisper it though, for the club can’t get too ahead of themselves just yet.
Bayern Munich UCL semifinal
Dortmund will face either of Bayern Munich or Real Madrid in the final. (Reuters)
The final hurdle
On the final matchday of last season’s Bundesliga title race, Dortmund were all but a win away from a first league title since 2012. Playing at home, they faced Mainz, 25 points behind them in the tally. Kehl, who was a Dortmund player when they last lifted the trophy, wouldn’t shy away from painting an elaborate picture of the celebrations that were to follow ahead of a big Saturday in Dortmund. “A glass of red wine on Sunday and enjoy everything” was on the agenda. “How many people could we bring in on Saturday? I would say perhaps 5,00,000. But the stadium is limited,” he added of Westfalenstadion’s capacity and Dortmund’s passionate supporters. A party like no other was promised if Dortmund won. Neither happened.
Losing the title race deep into the season had happened before with Dortmund, but not quite like this. It is on the back of that scarring defeat that the team has scripted its road to a Champions League final – its first since 2013, which was also coincidentally played at the Wembley Stadium, as it will be this time.
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A game that has all the makings of a final test for Dortmund for facing them would be either Bayern Munich – a club that has poached multiple players and titles away from them – or Real Madrid – a club that’s won this competition twice more than the second best in AC Milan. It would be nothing less than a statement to best either enroute to the podium but let’s not pop open the champagne just yet.
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