But it didn't have the precision nor the firepower.
It ended, somehow, with only one goal.
Borussia Dortmund will take a 1-0 lead to Paris for next Tuesday's second leg. And at the final whistle, neither side was quite sure how to feel about it.
Dortmund, as the home team and underdog, playing in front of its famed Yellow Wall, really needed to win — and it did. Niclas Füllkrug scored a fine goal to put BVB ahead in the 36th minute.
DORTMUND STRIKE FIRST ⚡
Schlotterbeck sends a perfect ball over to the top 👌 Füllkrug makes no mistake 🎯 pic.twitter.com/GJ2jytxpbd
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 1, 2024
At the time, and over a frantic hour that followed, Füllkrug's strike felt like the first goal of many. But a second never materialized.
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 1, 2024
Füllkrug probably could've had a hat trick. PSG's Fabián Ruiz could've scored twice with his head. Both sides created countless chances. Ousmane Dembélé blazed one of the best over the crossbar, with half of the net begging.
Both teams lacking precision in and around the box.
Still 1-0 Dortmund with three minutes plus stoppage time remaining.
Henry Bushnell
Marquinhos to the rescue for PSG
No, he didn't score. He saved PSG, from what surely would've been a 2-0 deficit, with a sliding block on Julian Brandt.
Jadon Sancho slipped Brandt into the box with a clever little pass, and Brandt, for a fleeting moment, looked more likely to score than not. But Marquinhos came flying in from the blind side, stretched out his left foot, and foiled Brandt.
Henry Bushnell
Dembélé miss!
What a miss. PSG created perhaps its best chance of the game. The ball rolled into the lap of Ousmane Dembélé at the penalty spot. His blazed his right-footed shot a few feet over the bar.
Yikes.
Henry Bushnell
After a pretty frantic 30 minutes, the game has now calmed down a bit.
PSG, finally, enjoys a sustained spell of possession. Then Dortmund gets a turn.
0-0, approaching the 80-minute mark.
Henry Bushnell
Mbappé's positioning
PSG just brought on Randal Kolo Muani, who has spent most of his career so far playing as a central striker.
Mbappé, meanwhile, is often most effective on the left wing.
But Mbappé is still playing as the central striker, and Kolo Muani is out on the left.
We'd love to hear Luis Enrique's reasoning for that.
(Update: As we were writing, Mbappé floated out to the left, and very nearly created a goal.)
Henry Bushnell
Will Dortmund regret these misses?
The hosts were clinging to their lead between Minute 46 and 58 or so.
Now they have been all over PSG for a good 10 minutes, and created multiple high-quality chances. No more goals, though.
Julian Brandt floated a cross to the far post. Füllkrug, it seemed, was about to rise to meet it — and then he got a nudge in the back from Nuno Mendes.
It was the type of contact that, in a vacuum, wasn't all that forceful. But it absolutely put Füllkrug off, and it absolutely was not an attempt to play the ball.
That, in my opinion, should've been a penalty. But the referee and VAR say no.
Henry Bushnell
And now a Dortmund chance!
Füllkrug misses this time.
Created, against the run of play, by an electric burst down the right from Jadon Sancho.
Still 1-0, with 30 minutes plus stoppage time to go in this first leg.
Yahoo Sports Staff
Mbappé with the near-equalizer. Ouch.
Henry Bushnell
Another PSG chance
Marquinhos just hit the pass of the night. An exquisitely shaped cross — somehow, from the right center back position — that hopped onto the head of Fabién Ruiz.
Ruiz couldn't quite direct the header on goal. And to be fair to him, the height of the ball and the angle were awkward. But still, big chance.
Yahoo Sports Staff
Jadon Sancho completed more dribbles in his first half display against PSG in the Champions League than he did in his ENTIRE time at Manchester United 🤯
Kylian Mbappé rattles the right post. Ten seconds later, Achraf Hakimi strikes the inside of the left post.
Both shots caromed back across the face of goal, but stayed out.
Incredible. Dortmund's lead holds firm — by a matter of inches.
Henry Bushnell
Second half underway
It'll be fascinating to see how much PSG chases this game. Do they play as if they're behind? Or would they be perfectly happy going back to Paris with a 1-0 deficit?
Henry Bushnell
Mbappé not at his best
Admittedly, "his best" is an impossibly high standard, but that was subpar half from Kylian Mbappé.
Some credit goes to Dortmund. Defenders have crowded him out a few times.
But on the few occasions he's found space, he hasn't been sharp. One sequence, around the 33rd minute, stood out. He received the ball in a central position, in transition, with runners to both his left and right and a numerical advantage. He overhit his pass out to the left, and spoiled the break.
Henry Bushnell
Halftime
Borussia Dortmund is ahead, 1-0, and ascendant.
Still a long way to go, and a one-goal loss tonight wouldn't be all that bad a result for PSG. But the Parisians need to recover, and make sure this doesn't get worse.
Henry Bushnell
Quite a goal from Füllkrug
Füllkrug's technique here is incredible. Strikes straight through the ball with his weak foot. Keeps it low, skimming off the grass, flying inches off the ground past Donnarumma.
That, folks, is what soccer people call a "daisy cutter."
And this is precisely why Füllkrug has risen to prominence in German football.
🇩🇪⚽🔥 ¡Gooooooooool del Dortmund! 🇩🇪⚽🔥 ¡Gooooooooool del Dortmund!
PSG's metronome, defensive midfielder Vitinha, is helping the visitors gain some control here.
He's so quick and clean on the ball. Spraying some passes. His positioning has also been great over the past 15 minutes.
PSG much more comfortable now than it was in the early exchanges.
Henry Bushnell
A touching moment of solidarity from the PSG Ultras before kick off.
Dortmund fan Marcel passed away in January. So they just held up a banner saying Rest in Peace, Marcel. Met with applause from the entire Südtribüne. https://t.co/fZKpcF05Nupic.twitter.com/UoY5hnAwHA
Dortmund's first real chance of the game — a close-range, bad-angle shot from Niclas Füllkrug, saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma — is a pretty good representation of how they'll win this game, if they win it.
Won a duel at midfield. Julian Brandt, their creator, picked up a loose-ish ball. And almost immediately, even without overwhelming numbers getting forward, the break was on.
Henry Bushnell
Dortmund on the front foot early
No real chances through 10 minutes, but Dortmund's press has been aggressive and effective.
Karim Adeyemi, an energizer bunny of a winger, has been lively down the left.
PSG looks relatively comfortable, though. Ousmane Dembélé gets the first shot of the game, from 25 yards out, and drags it well wide.
Yahoo Sports Staff
"You'll Never Walk Alone" just hits different in front of Dortmund's Yellow Wall 🟡⚫️
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 1, 2024
Henry Bushnell
Dortmund and PSG are unchanged from their #UCL quarterfinal 👀
Thierry Henry breaks down what that means for their 1st leg semifinal clash 🍿 pic.twitter.com/4Epntp29ln
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 1, 2024
Henry Bushnell
This matchup, in many ways, is talent vs. aura, atmosphere and history.
PSG has never won a Champions League or European Cup. It has never won a game of any kind at Borussia Dortmund — whose home-field advantage is one of the most vaunted in Europe.
But, on paper and in practice, PSG is a better team. Mbappé will be by far the best player on the field.
We'll see which side of the contrast carries the day.
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