Dortmund knock out Madrid for Champions league final

German side Borussia Dortmund reached their first Champions League final since 1997, winning 4-3 on aggregate despite losing 2-0 to Real Madrid in the second leg of their semi-final clash on Tuesday.

Goals in the last 10 minutes of the match by Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos set up a nervous finale but Dortmund held on.

It is the third successive season that Jose Mourinho and Real have gone out at the semi-final stage, losing to Barcelona in 2011 and Bayern Munich last year.

Dortmund, who beat Juventus in the final to win the trophy in 1997, will face the winners of the other semi-final between Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

They meet in the second leg on Wednesday with Bayern leading 4-0 from the first leg.

The intense atmosphere created by the home fans before kick-off was matched by their team’s energetic start and Higuain missed a great chance after just four minutes as he was slipped in by Ozil but Roman Weidenfeller stood up well to block his effort.

Angel Di Maria and Ronaldo then saw efforts fly over and Dortmund suffered a big blow on 12 minutes when Mario Gotze pulled up with an injury after hitting a routine ball forward.

However, whilst still playing with 10 men they had their best chance of the opening period as Lewandowski controlled a long free-kick from Gundogan but placed his shot too close to Lopez who made a comfortable save.

Seconds later Ronaldo had an even better chance as he too chested down a long ball before volleying straight into Weidenfeller’s body before Kevin Grosskreutz could even come on to take Dortmund back up to their full compliment.

Ozil then had the best opportunity of the first-half as a lovely reverse ball from Di Maria put him clean through on goal but he pulled his shot wide of the near post.

After a chastening first 15 minutes though Dortmund settled admirably as their patience in possession made an increasingly desperate Madrid chase shadows for periods of time.

The Germans could even have gone into half-time ahead on the night when Jakub Blaszczykowski fluffed his attempt from Lukasz Piszczek’s intelligent cutback.

Dortmund’s ascendancy continued after the break and Lewandowski sliced horribly over with a gilt-edged chance five minutes after the restart before unluckily seeing his fierce drive from a narrow angle come back out after striking the underside of the bar.

Mourinho threw on Benzema and Kaka as a last throw of the dice 10 minutes into the second-half but it seemed to be a fruitless move as Madrid lost their shape against a Dortmund side flowing with confidence.

Another lovely move from the visitors saw Marco Reus tee up what seemed like a certain goal for Gundogan only for Lopez to somehow repel the ball with his trailing arm.

The hosts were then given a glimmer of hope eight minutes from time when Kaka released Ozil and his cross was turned home by Benzema.

And they were soon rampant when Benzema set-up Ramos to crash home a second six minutes later.

However, a Ramos header that sailed wide in stoppage time was the closest they came to sealing a remarkable comeback as Dortmund booked their place to face either Barcelona, or more likely, Bayern Munich at Wembley.