BVB hellhounds spare PSG with the last bite

Borussia Dortmund come through the group of death in the Champions League in first place. The final duel in the preliminary round against PSG is wild and thrilling. In the end, BVB missed the big chance to knock the giants out of the competition.

In the end, Kylian Mbappé got carried away. The Paris St. Germain superstar constantly waved his hand, clearly having no understanding for the behavior of his teammates. The 24-year-old wanted to play to win, wanted to finish the group stage in first place after all. His team-mates, on the other hand, switched to administration mode from the 85th minute onwards. The 1:1 (0:0) was enough for them because AC Milan had taken a 2:1 lead against the newly and super-rich Newcastle United in the parallel duel. Enough to spare themselves the humiliation of failing to reach the preliminary round of the Champions League. For the first time under Qatari leadership, that would have happened. PSG would have become the laughing stock of Europe, the team the big billion-dollar fool.

Mbappé finished the game as an insulted giant, BVB as polite hosts who, exhausted, were no longer able to make a final push. Mbappé briefly thanked the fans in the old Westfalenstadion and was the first to disappear into the bus. He had hurried wordlessly through the catacombs, flatly ignoring every interview request from his French colleagues. Nasser Al-Khelaifi declined somewhat more politely, but just as firmly. The almost apologetic-looking PSG boss, who has been pursuing his hobby of gigantic money destruction to upgrade and re-equip the club for ten years now, didn't want to say anything either. With his entourage, he roared into the rainy Dortmund night in a black van, past the North Stand, where they had hastily pulled up a cheering picture on the oversized video screen: group winners it said.

In the group of death, it had indeed been BVB, who had left PSG, AC Milan and the Saudi play ball Newcastle United behind and stormed into the round of 16 with the best starting position, where FC Copenhagen or PSV Eindhoven could now be waiting, but also Inter Milan or SSC Napoli. In the remote world of the Qatari French, this is at least a moderately serious industrial accident. But on this disgusting November evening in December, something else was more important; the worst-case scenario had been averted. Warren Zaire-Emery, that thrilling 17-year-old, had equalized Dortmund's lead after 56 minutes through Karim Adeyemi (51).

A wild exchange of blows

The Black & Yellows, who are constantly teetering on the edge of the abyss in the Bundesliga with baffling performances and with coach Edin Terzić in danger of being the first to fall, once again asserted themselves as sure-footed climbing champions in the top flight. They may not have been playing like stars from the sky - they weren't going to be anyway - but they acted courageously. With their line-up, in which Salih Özcan was only included as a six-man due to personnel shortages, but also with the way they faced Paris. The visitors also threw everything into the first eleven that was fit and dangerous. And that was a lot. In addition to Mbappé and Zaire-Emery, there was also Randal Kolo Muani, Bradley Barcola and playmaker Vitinha. As a result, the game did not end with a lot of tactical fiddling. It became a wild exchange of blows.

One that freed Terzic a little from the accusations of despondent soccer. Over the past few weeks, the coach, who is so emotionally attached to the club and was once a child of the Kurve, has had a lot thrown at him. He desperately wants to continue living this dream, but has recently lost the thread in this struggle. Always new line-ups and approaches. The identity had been lost. Nobody really knew what BVB stood for anymore. It was accused of playing scaredy-cat soccer. Now this performance, this sustained courage and the enduring willingness. "You can come up with lots of plans before the game, but the most important thing is to be active," said a relieved Terzic. "How do I show myself, how do I move when my teammate has the ball? They recognized what we wanted."

"I get my foot up out of some reflex"

Marco Reus and Marius Wolf had the first two shots, with Reus's landing in the arms of PSG keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and Wolf smashing the ball past the box. The stadium was in full swing even before it became heroically grand. The overture for the scene of the match was provided by Kang-in Lee (16), who failed to hit the ball properly when completely free. Mbappé then broke through, Niklas Süle, who was surprisingly defending alongside Mats Hummels in place of Nico Schlotterbeck, looked bad, having badly underestimated a brilliant chip ball from ex-Bayern professional Lucas Hernández. Mbappé ran towards Kobel, curved around him and slid the ball against the hastily raised leg of Süle, who was sliding on the goal line. What a scene. It was reminiscent of Sven Bender's sensational tacklein the DFB Cup against FC Bayern at the end of April 2017.

"I got my foot up out of some reflex," Süle explained of his sensational moment, which may put him back in the spotlight. He was no longer a regular at BVB and his dream of playing in the European Championship at home is also in jeopardy. As reported by "Bild", a crisis meeting of sorts is said to have taken place between sporting director Sebastian Kehl, Süle and his advisor before the game. The outcome? Unclear. But if the player's reaction is anything to go by, then it is likely to be more frequent, at least from BVB's point of view. And also from the point of view of national coach Julian Nagelsmann, who is urgently looking for defensive monsters for his rattling national team.

By now at the latest, the stands were ablaze, in the best sense of the word. Pyrotechnic material had only been set off sporadically. Most of the PSG fans had been stripped of all fireworks during major checks at the national borders. It was a passionate, atmospheric evening that hardly gave any respite and continued to deliver highlights. Barcola slammed the ball against the post, Kolo Muani breathed it like a snooker genius just past the pocket (the goal). But BVB also got in on the act. Reus missed again, before Adeyemi scored from a free position. The draw was perfectly acceptable at the break, but it could have been 2:0 or 3:0 for BVB or PSG. In the parallel match, Newcastle led 1-0 at home to Milan and the Parisians danced a toxic couple's dance with the impending fiasco. While the hosts shone brightly in the beautiful glow of the floodlights. And could not explain the contradiction to the dreary everyday gray.

"We've often had the problem this season that we've shown a different dynamic and will in the Champions League. It's not always easy to explain - under floodlights against the strongest teams in Europe, there isn't a player in the squad who isn't motivated to the tips of their hair," said Süle and made a self-indictment. "We have to reproach ourselves for not showing that from time to time in the Bundesliga with this incredible workload. That can't be an excuse, because you can see that we can still put in a performance like that three days after an intense game." Now it's a question of implementation, there are still six points up for grabs in the Bundesliga between now and Christmas, and all six should come. And then, as sporting director Sebastian Kehl admitted, there may be some readjustments. With Serhou Guirassy? This rumor was put on the table by "Sport Bild". Kehl said he was amused and denied all contact. Truth, or tactical gimmick?

Füllkrug sacrifices himself in the duel

Back in the game and PSG really threatened to pull the rug from under their feet when Adeyemi scored. The tireless and outstanding Rany Bensebaini made a strong counter-pressing move, brought the ball to Niclas Füllkrug, who spotted his fellow striker, fed him and from then on rejoiced with the Black & Yellows. At this point, Füllkrug had already taken more punishment than many a professional boxer in twelve rounds. He fought one thrilling duel after another with the tough defender Milan Skriniar. Always one down. Füllkrug sacrificed his body, Skriniar fought back with everything he had. Which was often the bottom of the elbow. It rattled again and again. The art of the shot alternated with the art of the ball. After falling behind, the French increasingly laid claim to it. Without a recognizable plan against the cleverly acting Borussia around the hard-working and mostly very attentive Özcan. Apart from somehow getting the ball to Mbappé, with sometimes sharp, sometimes careless passes, there was not much to see from this talented ensemble, which is still worth 1.07 billion euros in total.

And so they came up against Dortmund, who defended like hellhounds. They already had the Parisians in their mouths, but they didn't get the final bite. The final precision was lacking, BVB didn't even shoot on goal in the last 30 minutes, which is too little for a victory. On the other hand, they managed things at home with verve. Hummels straddled, headed and dribbled the ball out of dangerous areas. After a few wobbles in the first few minutes, he got better and better, and the fact that he had to leave Mbappé standing once or twice at the end was due to his yellow caution. Bensebaini, too, finally became the reinforcement at left-back that he so desperately needed to be. Time and again, he gave his fierce opponents Zaire-Emery and Kolo Muani a run for their money.

They were also lucky on one occasion when Mbappé scored what would have been 2:1, but the striker was marginally offside. The sharp-eyed VAR had noticed this after the Parisians' jubilation and a lengthy review. And so the turbulent game staggered towards the final whistle, BVB could do no more, PSG wanted no more, apart from Mbappé, the last relic of the superstar era at Paris, whose future remains unclear. For a long time, there have been many indications that this attempt at the trophy will be Mbappé's last in a Parisian shirt. And the passion to prove it to everyone before he moves on (to Real Madrid?) is burning in him.