MAATSEN’S BORUSSIA DORTMUND WILL PLAY KEPA’S REAL MADRID IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL!
Ian Maatsen (probably) won’t be a Chelsea player for much longer, but for a few weeks more, we can technically still count him as one of us.
And so, when the Champions League anthem sounds at Wembley on Saturday, June 1, we will have a definite rooting interest, as our loanee left back’s plucky underdogs Borussia Dortmund take on powerhouse Real Madrid on the greatest stage in club football.
Dortmund advanced earlier this week thanks to a victory that channeled some kind of 2012 Chelsea magic, with PSG failing to score across 180 minutes despite taking 44 shots, creating nine “big chances”, amassing nearly 5 xG, and hitting the woodwork six times.
And it would’ve been a perfect script if BVB would’ve had to face Bayern ... which almost was the case, were it not for a rare fumble from Manuel Neuer, which opened the door for yet another famous (but also seemingly inevitable) Real Madrid late show and comeback victory.
After a pulsating 2-2 draw in Munich, the second leg was a bit more tight affair, but when Bayern got their goal halfway through the second half, it looked like they had gotten the job done. Unfortunately for Thomas Tuchel & Co, Neuer gifted an equalizer to Joselu in the 88th minute, and the veteran striker completed his heroic moment with a quick second just a couple minutes later.
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory: a rather unlucky way to sign off from Bayern for Tuchel.
But obviously also big congratulations to Carlo Ancelotti and Antonio Rüdiger and Kepa Arrizabalaga (whose time on Chelsea’s books probably isn’t yet over) for reaching yet another Champions League final.
Their victory seems inevitable ... unless there is something else written in the stars?