German side Borussia Dortmund reached their first Champions League final since 1997, winning 4-3 on aggregate despite losing 2-0 to Real Madrid in the second leg of their semi-final clash on Tuesday.
It is the third successive season that Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid have gone out at the semi-final stage, losing to Barcelona in 2011 and Bayern Munich last year.
Despite a late scare in the final 10 minutes of the match, the thrill factor was largely absent for the rest of the match. 2-0 was as much as Madrid could muster.
So yes, the team that has caught everyone’s imagination and adoration is heading to the final.
Jose Mourinho made a few changes to the lineup. He left Sami Khedira out and instead paired Xabi Alonso with Luka Modric. Angel Di Maria also returned, allowing Mesut Ozil to play in his more natural position, in the centre right behind Gonzalo Higuain.
The German international created many chances, but missed a crucial opportunity early in the game. Di Maria surely added a level of energy and speed that was missing in the first leg. Modric also connected finely with Di Maria and created several great passes.
In the first 15 minutes, Higuain, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ozil all had incredible chances, but failed to convert. Higuain got the first chance for his team. His right-footer, however, was poor and Roman Weidenfeller was quick to cut down the angle and made the save with his stretched-out leg.
That chance was followed by Ronaldo’s attempt, which went straight to the Dortmund keeper, who managed to make the save. Ozil had another excellent opportunity for Madrid on the right side, but his attempt also went wide.
The majority of Madrid’s attacks came from the right flank in the first half. Alonso and Modric bonded for most of the night until Mourinho opted for change in the second half.
Modric’s effort and performance were top-notch. His passing was also very effective. With all the pre-game talk by Mourinho, Sergio Ramos surely didn’t miss a word of it. He was excessively physical with the Polish striker and was lucky enough to get away with the fouls. Alonso also reacted very unprofessionally towards Lewandowski and appeared to slap the player in the face at one point during the game.
In the second half, it was more of the same. Only now, Dortmund had the better chances, including a few by Robert Lewandowski, who just couldn’t repeat the magic away at the Bernabeu.
His best attempt came in the 49th minute on a slide from Marco Reus, only to hit the crossbar. Although Reus didn’t make the same exceptional runs as we witnessed in the first leg match, he still had a strong performance tonight.
The wastefulness continued, with a spectacular miss by Ilkay Gundogan in the 62nd minute. Gundogan really wasn’t as decisive as usual. When Reus slipped him the ball, he should have beaten Diego Lopez, but the Madrid keeper made a confident save throwing his full body in front of the ball. Credit to Lopez, the save was exceptional and well read.
With time running out and the score still level, Mourinho brought on Karim Benzema for Higuain and Kaka for Fabio Coentrao in the 57th. He also replaced Alonso with Khedira.
The substitutions soon made their impact. It was an intelligent move playing with one less defender as Madrid came very close to possibly creating an upset.
The final 10 minutes were pulsating. In fact, it was so intense; that some at the game were reporting the BVB CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke reportedly left the game once the score was 2-0 and didn’t return until the final whistle.
While this wasn’t the most entertaining match, Benzema’s goal brought a message of hope to a demoralized side. He scored on a low cross from Ozil in the 83rd.
The next 7 minutes were thrilling. Madrid’s offence continued to hound Dortmund, with Weidenfeller making a series of key saves, but his defenders (and the team as whole, actually) struggled to clear the ball but Ramos eventually added another goal (with Benzema assisting) in the 88th minute.
Could karma hit back at BVB? Could Madrid make a comeback? Dortmund dealt with the late scare much better in the five minutes of added time, clearing the ball and holding on to the ball to kill time.
BVB’s unbeaten streak was finally brought to an end. They’re not invincible, after all. Despite losing tonight, they were the better team in the 180 minutes and deserved to advance to the Champions League final in Wembley.
As for Madrid, the most important development will be to deal with Mourinho and his future at the club.
Perhaps, 2013 is the year of the Bundesliga. This could be the year the Germans make history and have an all-German UEFA final.
Dortmund, who beat Juventus in the final to win the trophy in 1997, will face the winners of the other semi-final between Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
They meet in the second leg on Wednesday with Bayern leading 4-0 from the first leg.