Borussia Dortmund defeated Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, sending a shockwave through the Manchester United parent club in the process. Jadon Sancho contributed to making it a night to remember for the team.
After losing the first leg 2-1, Edin Terzic’s team entered the tie one goal behind their Spanish opponents on the scoreboard overall.
Dortmund deserves credit for coming out of the Wanda Metropolitano with just a one-goal deficit after applying intense pressure the whole game.
In the second leg, they got off to a fast start at Signal Iduna Park, with Julian Brandt opening the score on minute 33.
Three minutes later, Ian Maatsen, a Chelsea loanee, scored his first Champions League goal, giving Dortmund the advantage overall.
However, Diego Simeone’s team never gave up and an own goal by Mats Hummels in the second half, which came before Angel Correa’s goal, leveled the score that evening.
After Niklas Fullkrug gave Dortmund a one-goal lead on minute 71, Marcel Sabitzer, a former Manchester United player, struck a fourth goal to put an end to Atletico’s hopes of winning the tournament.
As a result, the German team prevailed 6-4 on aggregate and advanced to the semifinals for the first time since they did so in the 2013 championship game while playing for Jurgen Klopp.
After a public falling out with Ten Hag, Sancho, who is on loan from United until the end of the season, participated in the match by being on the field for all four goals.
As a result, he and former United loanee Sabitzer contributed to dealing a serious blow to his parent club.
England is presently competing against Germany and Italy for an additional qualification berth for the Champions League, which will have 36 teams instead of 32 next season.
This season, the slot is determined by the nation co-efficient, which is, to put it simply, the overall performance of a country’s teams participating in all three major European championships.
Italy was comfortably atop the standings with 18.428 co-efficient points prior to tonight’s play.
With 16.785 points, Germany was in second place, very slightly ahead of England in third (16.750). The top two countries will receive an additional slot.
Dortmund’s advancement means they move farther away from England, but Atletico could have eliminated Dortmund and stopped Germany from increasing their co-efficient points.
Of course, winning their individual European ties—Arsenal and West Ham both playing against German opponents—will allow Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, West Ham, and Aston Villa to all get it back.
Ten Hag’s team can’t change the result, though, as United has already qualified for the Champions League based on their performance in the Premier League. Sancho and Dortmund have the ability to eliminate them from the competition as well.