This Saturday, June 1, Borussia Dortmund will try, against Real Madrid, to win the Champions League. The Germans are not favorites but they can offer a historic season to three players. If Sébastien Haller and Jadon Sancho have had difficult times in recent months, Marco Reus will leave as a club legend… and could have a perfect ending.
It’s one of the surprises of the season. Few football fans saw Borussia Dortmund, fifth in the Bundesliga, making a big European run. Even less so at the time of the draw for the group stages, where the Germans inherited the group of death with PSG, AC Milan and Newcastle. Finally, Edin Terzic’s men finished in first place, with prestigious successes against the Milanese and the Magpies.
Once in the final phase, Borussia Dortmund made the huge moves to take out Atlético de Madrid (quarter-final) and PSG (semi-final), even though they did not start as favorites. Once again, the German club will have to defy the odds against Real Madrid to win the second Champions League in its history after that of 1997. If a victory in the European Cup would obviously be celebrated by all the players, it would have a flavor particular for three elements in particular.
• A renaissance for Haller
It would certainly be one of the greatest stories in football. In July 2022, Sébastien Haller was forced to take a break from his career for several months due to a testicular tumor. This leads to treatment with chemotherapy to treat the tumor. If his career is in danger at this point, the player does not want to end it and is determined to find the green rectangle. Surrounded by his loved ones, the Ivorian had to undergo surgery twice, but finally managed to recover from this cancer.
In January 2023, the former Ajax Amsterdam player makes his comeback to Dortmund. It didn’t take long for him to shine with a hat-trick in a friendly match against Basel. Author of satisfactory statistics with 9 goals in 19 Bundesliga matches, Haller narrowly failed with his team to win the title of German champion, following an incredible final day.
This season, the striker is going through a more complicated phase since he has only scored three goals with Dortmund and suffered some physical problems. A Sky Sports journalist even mentions a “problematic situation”. “He’s never really come back since his cancer.”
Placed on the bench during the victory against PSG at the Parc des Princes, Haller certainly did not have the main role. But he felt he had “contributed to helping this group, at the microphone of Canal+.
Already winner of the African Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast a few months ago, Haller can add a new prestigious trophy to his list of achievements. He is also present in the official group communicated this Friday, just to make his contribution.
• An (even) more legendary start for Reus?
Rare are the players who stay ten years in the same club. Marco Reus belongs to this category. Arriving from Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2012, the German midfielder is a Dortmund legend. He officially announced his intention to leave at the end of the season. Leaving with a Champions League would be a huge symbol for this player often struck by bad luck.
In May 2013, Reus played his first Champions League final against Bayern Munich, after eliminating José Mourinho’s Real Madrid, thanks to Robert Lewandowski’s historic quadruple with Dortmund. But at the last stage, the team at the time coached by Jürgen Klopp lost 2-1 at the end of the match. A first failure for the attacking midfielder, followed by another the following season.
During the 2013/2014 season, Reus burst into prominence with 16 goals and 13 assists in the Bundesliga and was called up to play the 2014 World Cup in Brazil with Germany. But following an ankle injury contracted during a preparation match with his selection, the midfielder was forced to withdraw. A few weeks later, the Mannschaft won the competition. Eternal runner-up, Reus finished seven times as Bundesliga runner-up with Dortmund.
From now on, the player who is celebrating his 35th birthday today is no longer an indisputable starter, but he can put an end to this bad series and offer himself an even more legendary outing than it already is with BVB. During an interview with UEFA, Reus expressed his joy at ending his German adventure with one last major challenge: “There is nothing better than playing your last match in the final of the Champions League. “Starting with a Champions League final at Wembley in 2013 and ending with a final in 2024 for your last match, there is no worse way to end a career at Dortmund.”
Named player of the season three times in the Bundesliga (11/12, 13/14, 18/19), Reus has 170 goals with Dortmund. He can further inflate this statistic on Saturday in London.
• Jadon Sancho has found the light again
Returning to where you shined to find a light that had faded is an idea that can revive a stalled career. Revealed to the whole of Europe in 2018 where he splashed the Bundesliga with his talent alongside Erling Haaland, Jadon Sancho was at that moment a prodigy that everyone was chasing. After four seasons at Dortmund, the winger decided to return to his native country and joined Manchester United in 2021.
But in the Premier League, the English international is struggling to achieve the same performance as in Germany. After two seasons where he scored only 12 goals, Sancho sees the future getting darker. This season, Sancho is in conflict with his coach Erik Ten Hag, and is sidelined. After several months without playing, the Englishman saw Borussia Dortmund offer him a return on loan. A proposal that will completely change his season, and that of the Germans.
After more than four months without playing, Sancho is gradually regaining rhythm after a timid start, ultimately quite logical. As the weeks go by, the 24-year-old is gaining strength and Europe becomes aware of it during the double confrontation in the semi-final against PSG. At Signal Iduna Park, the striker produced a masterclass and gave Nuno Mendes a nightmarish evening overwhelmed by his opposite number’s dribbles. During this first leg, Sancho completed twelve dribbles, one more than all the Parisians combined.
Author of a complete match on the return, Sancho is one step away from winning the Big Ears Cup. A scenario that was still unthinkable a few weeks ago. If he was not called up by Gareth Southgate to play Euro 2024 with England, the Englishman had the merit of showing the European scene that he still has the level to play in big clubs.
Otranto Jesse Journalist RMC Sport
