The time has come for the key duel, the definitive test of whether there is a team or just money behind the project, the maximum challenge for Luis Enrique and Kylian Mbappé… nothing less.
This Tuesday, the second leg semi-final of the Champions League between PSG and Borussia Dortmund will be played at the Parque de los Príxnipes, with the Germans leading 1-0 on the scoreboard.
PSG were unlucky not to score in their 1-0 first-leg defeat at Dortmund, hitting the woodwork twice early in the second half through Kylian Mbappé and Achraf Hakimi. But he will try, with his people, not to give up.
The French team has finished ten times in the Champions League this season, more than any other team, while only Barcelona (11 in 2011/12) has done more in the same campaign of the biggest European event in the last 20 years. Can he be more accurate in this second leg?
PSG also became the first team to start a Champions League semi-final match with 11 players under the age of 30 since Bayern in 2011/12, offering a stark contrast to a Dortmund team packed with experienced players such as Mats Hummels. , Emre Can, Marcel Sabitzer and Marco Reus.
Meanwhile Dortmund continued their excellent home performance in the first leg and are now unbeaten in their last 11 Champions League games on their own ground (7 wins, 4 draws). However, they now return to Paris, after losing 2-0 at the Parc des Princes in the group stage. Equally worrying is their away record in the knockout phases of the competition, as they have only won one of their last 11 away games (1 draw, 9 losses).
The hope is placed in the defense, which has kept a clean sheet five times in the current edition of the Champions League, more than any other team. Hummels was their defensive talisman in the first leg, keeping Kylian Mbappé and company relatively isolated, and at 35 years old he is ready to take on the responsibility: “Of course we want to go to Wembley, but Tuesday in Paris will be another difficult day” , said. “If you want to reach the final, you have to be able to defend yourself in Paris,” said the man of hope in the third yellow final of the Champions League.
Mbappé’s debt
This Tuesday could be the last European presentation of the ‘young wonder’ with the PSG shirt and for the Qataris, already resigned to seeing him leave without leaving a euro in the coffers, the consolation would be an Orejona in the shop windows.
After his million-dollar signing from Monaco in 2012, the club’s all-time top scorer has reigned in the local environment, where he has 18 titles, but he still has the outstanding debt from the European competition
This match and a second final would be the finishing touch to his relationship with a fan who has not quite put him on the Olympus and to whom he will say goodbye at the age of 25, according to his accounts, with the long-awaited trophy in his hands.
Probable lineups
PSG: Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Beraldo, Mendes; Zaïre-Emery, Vitinha, Fabián Ruiz; Dembélé, Mbappé, Barcola
Borussia Dortmund: Kobel; Ryerson, Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Maatsen; Can, Sabitzer; Adeyemi, Brandt, Sancho; Filling jug
Stadium: Princes Park
Time: 2:00 pm (Colombian time
TV: ESPN y Star+
Online: www.futbolred.com