Paris St Germain are not used to playing the return leg at home in this season’s Champions League and coach Luis Enrique hopes their fans will make the difference when they try to overturn a 1-0 semi-final deficit against Borussia Dortmund next week.

Dortmund’s Niclas Fuellkrug fired in a first-half goal to seal victory over visitors PSG, who had more possession throughout Wednesday’s game but could not take their chances.

While PSG beat Barcelona in the quarters and Real Sociedad in the last 16, playing the second leg away both times, Luis Enrique knows their home fans could be crucial if they are to reach the final at Wembley on June 1.

“We saw an even match with two teams that play good football when they have the ball,” Luis Enrique told a press conference on Wednesday.

“We both created many scoring chances. This time our opponents scored and we didn’t. The result reflects how close the game was.

“In the last two rounds, they had the home game as their second game, whereas it was the other way round for us. Now it’s a different and new scenario, we’ll have the crowd on our side in the second leg.

“I would have liked to create the chances we have created, but you have to be effective to score. We’ll see what version we show in Paris.”

Despite creating more chances after the break, PSG lost without scoring for the first time across all competitions this season.

“We missed our chances in the second half,” PSG defender Achraf Hakimi told Canal+.

“We knew what they were going to do, with long through balls. We were very focused, the coach repeated it all week.”

PSG have progressed from two of their previous four Champions League knockout ties when losing the first leg, with the first of those coming against Borussia Dortmund in the last 16 in 2019-20.

“We’ve come back from 1-0 down before,” added PSG captain Marquinhos.

“We’ve shown that we can do it, especially at home, with the energy of our supporters, it’s going to be a different scenario. We know we can do a lot better. We just need to take our chances and be more decisive.

“We conceded a goal that we shouldn’t have conceded, and we’ve been talking all week about these deep passes from this Borussia team. It’s the details that make all the difference, and we’re going to do better in the next game if we want to go through.”

-Reuters

Borussia Dortmund’s Niclas Fuellkrug fired in a first-half goal to seal a 1-0 victory over visitors Paris St Germain in a compelling Champions League semi-final first leg on Wednesday.

Nico Schlotterbeck floated a pass into Fuellkrug’s path and the Germany forward controlled the ball with a perfect first touch before drilling a low shot past keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 36th minute.

PSG, fresh from being crowned Ligue 1 champions and desperate to win their first ever Champions League trophy, found it hard going against a disciplined German defence, especially in the first half with forward Kylian Mbappe largely neutralised.

With the return leg in Paris next Tuesday, the winners of the tie will face either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, who drew 2-2 in their first leg in Germany, in the final at Wembley on June 1.

“It was a well-deserved win, a good team performance,” said Dortmund coach Edin Terzic. “We could have scored more goals, but so could they.”

“That’s why the result is OK from my point of view. We ran a lot, but that’s necessary in a game like this.”

“You have to earn your way to Wembley. All we need now is a draw in the second leg, but we also want to win next week.”

The win also confirmed Germany will get a fifth qualifying spot for next season’s Champions League, with Dortmund being the main beneficiaries at the moment, sitting in fifth place in the Bundesliga with three games left to play.

Dortmund went close just before halftime with Marcel Sabitzer but his shot was blocked by Donnaruma. The French side improved after the break and went agonisingly close to an equaliser in the 52nd minute with Mbappe curling a shot onto the far post and then Achraf Hakimi also hitting the woodwork on the rebound.

Four minutes later Fabian Ruiz saw his stooping header sail wide after being left completely unmarked in the box before Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel kept out Ousmane Dembele’s close range effort in the 71st.

Dortmund, winners in 1997 and looking to reach their first final since 2013, soaked up the pressure as PSG’s Vitinha narrowly missed the target 10 minutes later.

-Reuters

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti was disappointed with his players’ attitude, calling them “soft” for defending too deep in their 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final, first leg on Tuesday.

Ancelotti was critical of his team’s commitment after Vinicius Jr’s first-half goal gave them the lead as Bayern struck twice in four minutes early in the second half to turn the game around before Vinicius equalised from the penalty spot.

“The result is good but on a level of play we could have done better. Bayern showed their best version and we didn’t. We have to improve for next week,” an introspective Ancelotti told Movistar Plus+.

“In the first half we defended but with little intensity, in the second half when they took the lead we started to press a bit more, but not enough.

“The feeling was that we were comfortable, but we lacked intensity. We gave them too many chances to take control of the game. We didn’t want to play in a low block and we went on doing that. We were soft.”

Ancelotti defended his decision to substitute midfielder Toni Kroos, who set up Vinicius’ opener with a brilliant pass and was arguably Real’s best player.

The Italian said that he made four substitutions in an effort to shake his team up and was relieved that they ended up scoring the equaliser that he believes “left the tie open” for the return leg in Madrid next week.

“Jude Bellingham had a cramp, Toni Kroos played a spectacular game but the plan was to try to recover the control of the game by putting fresh legs in,” Ancelotti told a press conference.

“As always, at this point in the season we have a great opportunity to play in another final. It’s an even tie against a great team. It will be another 90 minutes of suffering but in an atmosphere that we know quite well. The fans are going to help us.”

-Reuters