After eleven years, Borussia Dortmund are back in the semi-finals of the Champions League. The last time Real Madrid had to believe it – and how. Do you still know?
The duplicity of events is remarkable: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals, with the final once again taking place at Wembley Stadium. Almost like in 2013 – when Borussia Dortmund last reached the semi-finals.
The opponent back then: Real Madrid. Still completely euphoric from the quarter-final madness against FC Malaga (3:2), BVB went into the match as clear underdogs. In the starting eleven: players such as Roman Weidenfeller, Marcel Schmelzer, İlkay Gündoğan and Robert Lewandowski.
The Pole struck for BVB after just eight minutes against Real, finishing off a Mario Götze cross just a few meters from goal – 1:0.
Borussia Dortmund had Real, who had fielded players such as Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Özil, largely under control. However, instead of going 2-0 up, Borussia gifted the Whites an equalizer shortly before the break. Mats Hummels’ return to Weidenfeller was too short. Gonzalo Higuain grabbed the ball and fed Ronaldo, who scored the equalizer.
Lewandowski’s madness after the break
Anyone who thought that Real would now take control of the game and put BVB in their place was wrong. Because after the break, Lewandowski’s time had finally come.
Within 17 minutes, the Pole had single-handedly shot the madridistas down. In the 50th minute, he scored from a Marco Reus cross and shortly afterwards, he beat Pepe to Marcel Schmelzer’s cross to make it 3:1 (45′).
But that was still not enough: after just over an hour, Leverkusen’s current coach Xabi Alonso fouled Marco Reus. Lewandowski slotted the resulting penalty into the middle of the goal – 4:1 (67′). He raised four fingers almost in disbelief as he celebrated the goal. In the end it stayed that way and Borussia Dortmund celebrated the next soccer festival
Real Madrid then won the second leg 2:0, but that was enough for BVB to progress. Jürgen Klopp’s team would only have been eliminated if they had lost 3-0.
Incidentally, if FC Barcelona had beaten Paris Saint-Germain this season, the duplicity would have been perfect. Eleven years ago, the Catalans also reached the semi-finals – and went down 7-0 to Bayern. It came down to the German final, which BVB unfortunately lost 2:1.
Tonight’s opponent is Paris Saint-Germain. And one or two of the Dortmund fans will be thinking back to the brilliant semi-final against Real Madrid eleven years ago.