The match: 0-1
The dream of a historic quadruple flew away this Tuesday for PSG. Beaten by Dortmund in the semi-finals return by the same score as the first leg (0-1), the Parisian club will have to wait at least another year to hope to win the Champions League. In a Parc des Princes that was incandescent during the warm-up but quickly extinguished by the lackluster game, the players from the capital clearly missed the event. They will not play their second final after the one lost in 2020 (0-1 against Bayern Munich). As in 1995 and in 2021 (against AC Milan and against Manchester City), it was at the gates of the final that the road stopped for them.
However, all the conditions for the feat were met. A single goal behind to make up for a team which had only remained silent twice in its last 38 receptions in C1 (93 goals scored), that was nothing insurmountable. Parisian freshness and confidence should have made the difference against an opponent dropped in the Bundesliga (5th). But nothing happened as planned, at different levels the executives disappointed, which was fatal to the partners of Kylian Mbappé, the first concerned by this failure (see below).
Almost never dangerous in the first period, with the exception of a save from Mats Hummels in front of Mbappé (30th) and a deflected shot from Fabian Ruiz (45th), the French champions raised their tone slightly after the break. But not enough to hope at this level to reverse a very poorly started situation. Because after a recovery on the post by Warren Zaire-Emery (47th), it was Dortmund who opened the scoring from a corner by Hummels (50th), in a repeat of Christensen’s goal with Barça in the quarter-finals (2-3). ).
Gianluigi Donnarumma first decisive in front of Karim Adeyemi (35th), but still as fragile in his 6 meters, PSG could not achieve it like this. Especially since he was unlucky in the final with three new amounts hit by Nuno Mendes (61st), Mbappé (87th) and Vitinha (88th), for a total of fourteen this season. Luis Enrique was nevertheless convinced that his team would be there. German rigor and success had decided otherwise.
The player: Mbappé, the unfinished work
He will never lift the Big Ears Cup with PSG. Kylian Mbappé will not have completed his quest, the fault of an intractable Borussia Dortmund, who defended perfectly on him during the two meetings, but also and above all him, who did almost everything the wrong way in 180 minutes . He could have reignited the flame by equalizing in the final minutes, but his deflection hit the crossbar (87th). He could also have benefited from a penalty in a borderline contact with Nico Schlotterbeck (90th + 1), But such a player should not wait that long before making a difference. With 18 lost balls, he missed too narrowly. Aligned on the left side, despite his favorite area, the captain of the Blues thwarted. His mark in Paris will remain forever tarnished.
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Borussia Dortmund qualified for the third C1 final in its history after the 1996-1997 and 2012-2013 seasons, the latter also taking place at Wembley. He had won the first one.
