Fresh from the celebration for his 12th title in Ligue 1, the Psg he dives back into the atmosphere of the Champions League aware of having a unique opportunity to try to continue his dream of achieving the first historic ‘treble’. In this evening’s semi-final (9pm) against Borussia DortmundIn fact, Luis Enrique’s men start out as clear favourites. This is demonstrated by the results this season (the yellow and blacks are only fifth in the Bundesliga, ndr) and also the previous one in the winter in the group stage which saw the French draw 1-1 in Germany after winning the first leg (2-0) at the Parc des Princes.
Champions League, Bayern Munich-Real Madrid 2-2: Kane on the run, Vinicius catches him. The showdown at the Bernabeu
by Franco Vanni
Al-Khelaifi chasing a cup that has become an obsession
Per Nasser Al-Khelaifi the big-eared cup has become an obsession: the 32 titles achieved in 11 years have not satisfied the hunger of the Qatari president who has spent 2 billion euros so far to be able to bring back to Paris a European title that has been missing for 28 years (the 1996 Cup Winners’ Cup) and to win the first coveted Champions League, which narrowly missed out in 2020, in the strange final in Lisbon against Bayern (0-1), played without an audience due to the pandemic.
Luis Enrique: “Not going to the final would be a disappointment”
Luis Enrique, who has already lifted the trophy (with Barcelona in the famous ‘treble’ year of 2015), knows this well and for this reason on the eve, in no uncertain terms, said that: “Any result other than qualification in final would be a disappointment. In recent months, moreover, we have shown that we are a very difficult team to beat, technically, tactically and mentally.” It is the last chance to hit the goal with the shirt of the team of the city where he was also born for Kylian Mbappé who would like to give one last gift to his fans before saying goodbye to everyone and flying to Madrid to try a new adventure with Real.
Dortmund to be respected: they haven’t lost at home for almost 3 years
First, however, there is the obstacle to be jumped over by Dortmund who have no intention of playing the supporting role. And the numbers are there to testify that it is an opponent that deserves the utmost respect: in the group stage, despite stumbling in Paris, it finished in first place at +3 on its rivals (11 points against 8, ed.), at the Westfalenstadion it does not lose in the top European competition for almost 3 years (1-3 with Ajax in November 2021).
Terzic: “The December match gives us hope. And now we are more of a team”
Even if the largest standing grandstand in Europe will be in UEFA mode for safety reasons (16,000 seats against the usual 24,500, ndr), the technician Edin Terzic he hopes that the ‘yellow wall’ can bridge the technical difference in values on the pitch: “It will be a great celebration. The whole world will watch us, the warmth of our audience will push us. Already in December here in Dortmund we saw a game that was clearly different compared to the first leg, lost due to an unfortunate refereeing decision. We came close to winning and this must give us hope. And then we are a better, more compact team than at the beginning of the season.”
Probable lineups
Borussia Dortmund (4-2-3-1): Kobel – Ryerson, Schlotterbeck, Hummels, Maatsen – Sabitzer, Can – Sancho, Brandt, Adeyemi – Fullkrug. All. Terzic.
Psg (4-3-3): Donnarumma – Hakimi, Marquinhos, L- Hernandez, Mendes – Zaire-Emery, Vitinha, Fabian Ruiz – Dembélé, Mbappé, Barcola. All. Luis Enrique.
Referee: Taylor (Ing).
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– 2024-05-01 10:46:58
