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Few turn to Jose Mourinho for a sympathetic shoulder to cry upon. Or not the caricature of Mourinho anyway. But Edin Terzic is the emotional manager of an emotional club and he had already shed a tear on the Wembley turf before he found himself next to a man who knows what it is like to win the Champions League – twice, the Special One may point out – and he buried his head in a designer suit. “I won’t forget this moment, it showed what a big coach and person and character he is,” Terzic said.
Mourinho ended his night as a therapist. He had started his night as the pantomime villain, booed by the Borussia Dortmund fans when he appeared on the big screen at Wembley, just as they cheered Jurgen Klopp. But Mourinho’s shtick is that he is a winner. For Klopp, who knows what it is like to lose Champions League finals to Real Madrid and to lose one at Wembley, this was three past nights rolled into one. It was the sense of being so near and yet so far.
Just as in 2013 against Bayern Munich, Dortmund were the better team in the first half at Wembley. Just as his Liverpool team did in 2022, Klopp saw Thibaut Courtois make saves and Vinicius Junior score; this time the forward to hit the post for a team who lost 2-0 was Niclas Fullkrug, not Sadio Mane but many of the facts remained the same. Klopp can be self-deprecating and argue he has plenty of experience of setbacks; so do Dortmund, the club more accustomed to being the runners-up than the winners.
Normally, though, they come second to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. If Terzic’s team succumbed to meltdown against Mainz in the last game of last season to squander the Bundesliga title, this time they were menacing and more impressive against Real, denying the best team in Europe a shot on target in the first half. They were close to leading themselves. The woodwork had saved Dortmund in the semi-final, when Paris Saint-Germain hit it six times; it denied them in the final, with Fullkrug thwarted. Karim Adeyemi, electric but erratic, could rue a stray touch that may have cost him a goal. If Bayern’s Dante perhaps should have been sent off at Wembley in 2013, maybe Real’s Vinicius should have seen red 11 years later.
It was not to be. Terzic was not alone in being tearful; so were Marcel Sabitzer and Ian Maatsen, whose mistake led to Real’s second goal. Terzic was quick to forgive him. “I have a chaos of emotions,” he said. “I am proud but also sad and empty so it is hard to analyse but I do think we have had a season that has a lot of ups and downs. Today was the perfect example of what is possible with this team and what we can achieve.”
While Dortmund’s European campaign ended as it began, with a 2-0 defeat, much changed in between; they slipped to fifth in the Bundesliga, Terzic came close to the sack, they won the Champions League’s group of death and ploughed on, further than anyone foresaw.
There were signs of their quality: fresh from excelling against Kylian Mbappe in the semi-final, Julian Ryerson enhanced his reputation again in his duel with Vinicius. Nico Schlotterbeck has been one of the outstanding centre-backs in this season’s Champions League; Mats Hummels another though, at 35, he will surely never win it now. Sabitzer and Fullkrug have shown themselves to be astute acquisitions, Maatsen and Jadon Sancho intelligent loans. The winger’s redemption story lacked a crowning glory, just as Marco Reus was denied the perfect farewell to Dortmund; he had barely been brought on when Dani Carvajal broke the deadlock.
This side has been inconsistent and flawed, yet agonisingly close to immortality in the Ruhr. “There are players that are going to leave the team and it was a very emotional moment inside the dressing room,” said Terzic. Sancho may be one of the departures, but perhaps he will take a financial hit to stay in a spiritual home. “You can feel the joy he receives in dressing room and brings,” said Terzic.
He has proved a fine leader; joining only Klopp and Ottmar Hitzfeld among those to have taken Dortmund to a Champions League final, if not as iconic as either. Dortmund have had something of an identity crisis along the way. Their fans protested about the new sponsorship deal with arms manufacturer Rheinmetall; not quite what Klopp meant with his heavy metal football.
But then Dortmund may not play that any longer. But in Europe, they were often defiant in defence, quick on the counter-attack, spirited and organised.
They can seem the biggest underdog club in the world, Terzic the likeable local who few fancied to get the better of Carlo Ancelotti. For 45 minutes an imperfect manager but impressive figure did, yet couldn’t conjure a lead. Then Real Madrid happened. And for Borussia Dortmund, there was the familiar cruelty of knowing what might have been.
