Jadon Sancho helped to make it a night to remember for Borussia Dortmund as they knocked Atletico Madrid out of the Champions League – and dealt a blow to parent club Manchester United in the process.
Edin Terzic’s side went into the tie a goal behind their Spanish opposition on aggregate after a 2-1 defeat in the first leg.
It was to Dortmund’s credit that they escaped the Wanda Metropolitano with only a goal’s deficit, having absorbed heavy pressure throughout the contest.
They started brightly at Signal Iduna Park in the second leg, and opened the scoring on 33 minutes through Julian Brandt.
It was then 2-0 three minutes later when Chelsea loanee Ian Maatsen scored his first Champions League goal to give Dortmund the lead on aggregate.
But Diego Simeone’s side, as ever, were never out of the contest, and a second half own goal from Mats Hummels, prior to Angel Correa’s strike, levelled the tie on the night.
Niklas Fullkrug restored parity for Dortmund on 71 minutes, before former Manchester
United midfielder Marcel Sabitzer added a fourth goal to end Atletico’s dreams of winning the competition.
The German side therefore won 6-4 on aggregate, and reached the semi-finals for the first time since they made it to the final in 2013 under the management of Jurgen Klopp.
Sancho, who is on loan from United until the end of the season following his public fallout with Ten Hag, played his part in the contest, having been on the pitch for all four goals.
Therefore, alongside ex-United loanee Sabitzer, helped to deal a major blow to his parent club.
England are currently battling it out with Italy and Germany to gain an extra qualification spot for next season’s Champions League, which is being increased from 32 to 36 teams.
The spot is awarded via nation co-efficient across all three major European competitions this season – in simpler terms, the collective performance of all of a nation’s teams that are playing in Europe.
Prior to tonight’s action, Italy were comfortably leading the table, with 18.428 co-efficient points.
Germany were in second with 16.785 points – but only marginally ahead of third-placed England (16.750). The top two nations will earn an extra spot.
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Atletico could have knocked out Dortmund and prevented Germany from adding to their co-efficient points, but Dortmund’s progression means they pull further away from England.
Of course, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, West Ham and Aston Villa can all pull that back with victories in their respective European ties – with Arsenal and West Ham both facing German opposition.
But with United already out of European competition at the group stage, Ten Hag’s side are powerless to affect the outcome – and Sancho and Dortmund could knock them out of Champions League contention, even if their Premier League form is able to improve sufficiently as time runs out.
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