Much like a José Mourinho interview on ITV, Real Madrid promised much but ultimately failed to deliver the goods on what was yet another cracking night of Champions League action at the Bernabeu last night.
In fairness to the Special One and his troops, the damage had been done last week in Germany, but thanks to a lightning start and a dramatic finish, Los Blancos did show that the prospect of them pulling off what would have been a momentous result was not that far-fetched and that talk of a power shift from Spain to Germany was just a little bit premature.
In the end, it came down to the failure to convert chances, although it must be said that Dortmund had opportunities of their own to put the game out of sight.
Robert Lewandowski wasn’t as clinical as he had been six days previously but was the width of a crossbar from breaking the deadlock in the second half and although Diego Lopez pulled off a wonder save, Ilkay Gundogan should really have beat him when Marco Reus presented him with a gilt-edged opening from eight yards.
Those opportunities came well into the second half, by which stage Real should have been at least a goal to the good after a frenetic start when Dortmund could barely get a touch of the ball and couldn’t get out of their own half.
Gonzalo Higuain might have netted from an Ozil pass early on, but the German international should definitely have beaten Weidenfeller when Higuain returned the favour minutes later, only to drag his effort wide of the near post with Ronaldo waiting to tap it in at the back stick.
Much like Messi in Munich last week, it just wasn’t Ronaldo’s night last night
Once Dortmund survived the early onslaught, they coped quite comfortably with Real’s threat for the middle third of the game and beyond, thanks in no small part to the outstanding efforts of Mats Hummels and Neven Subotic at the heart of the Dortmund defence and Bender and Gundogan in front of them.
The longer the game went on, the more frustrated Real came, resulting in bookings for the likes of Fabio Coentrao and Sergio Ramos, who was determined that Mourinho wouldn’t be repeating his pre-game comments about the lack of fouls on Lewandowski in the first leg. By the end of the 90 minutes in the Bernabeu, let’s just say that the Polish striker and Ramos’ elbow had become familiar acquaintances.
Real’s breakthrough, when it did come, was the result of a quality combination between Mesut Ozil and Karim Benzema, but it was all too little too late, even if Sergio Ramos did put Dortmund hearts in mouths for a few minutes when he added a second before the final whistle.
They might have ended up doing it the hard way, but Dortmund deserved to go through on balance over the two legs and although it would have been a twist of fate had they exited the competition in the same manner as Malaga did at their own hands in the quarter-finals, it would have been tremendously hard on them had the hosts nicked a late goal to go through on the away goals rule.
Dortmund weren’t at their brilliant best last night – Mario Gotze’s early departure definitely had an impact – but they were always going to face an onslaught from a wounded Madrid and that they came away intact is a testament to their mental resolve.
The final, probably against Bayern, is likely to be the final act for this current Dortmund outfit and what better way to sign off than by lifting the famous trophy at Wembley in three weeks time?
Who’d back against them at this stage? After all, they haven’t lost a final yet.
