Borussia Dortmund — PSG: survivors of the "Death Group"

Dortmund and Parisians prove the thesis that champions are often born in "death groups." At the autumn stage of the Champions League, PSG and Borussia got into the same quartet with Milan and Newcastle. Moreover, according to the results of two rounds, the German club was at the bottom of the group without goals, and the French club was defeated in England in October. Borussia subsequently woke up and took first place, and PSG barely made it to the playoffs: if Mbappe had not brought the French a draw with Newcastle with a penalty kick in the 90+8th minute in the 5th round, then it is likely that there would have been no semi-final.

In the group stage, PSG beat Borussia Dortmund at home in the first round, and in the final, the rivals drew in Dortmund, and that meeting caused a mini-scandal. The black and yellow had already reached the playoffs by then, but they did not guarantee victory in the group, and PSG constantly looked back at the parallel match. Milan beat Newcastle in the end, which was in the hands of the Parisians, so in the last 5-10 minutes, they and Dortmund just rolled the ball without jerks. This was clear from the players' behavior and the gestures of the PSG defender Hakimi: the Moroccan actively showed the Borussia football players he knew well so that they would not force events. They say that in such cases, football punishes both opponents, like Sweden and Denmark at Euro 2004, but, as you can see, karma has overslept everything here.

For PSG, reaching the semi-finals means getting close to the long-awaited European Cup. The Qataris did not acquire the Paris Club for endless domestic titles but still need international ones. The 2020 Champions League final remains PSG's best achievement.

Another intrigue revolves around one person — Kylian Mbappe. One of the most famous footballers in the world is spending his last season at PSG, and it would be in his best interests to give Paris a parting gift. The plot will be lovely if Mbappe meets Real Madrid in the final, where he is supposed to move in the summer.

Dortmund, of course, is an outsider, but Edin Terzic's team was not highly rated either in the group stage or in the quarterfinals with Atletico. If you delve into history, you can recall the victorious season for the black and yellow-1996/97, when, on paper, they had to concede to both MU in the semifinals and Juventus in the final. But that's the way Borussia is: it no longer has either Holann or Bellingham in its composition, and in the Bundesliga, it will not rise above fourth place, but it is fighting for the central European Cup.