Pure disappointment at Dortmund: “It’s brutal”

The midfielder had previously suffered perhaps the bitterest defeat of his football career in the Champions League final against Real Madrid in London. His colleagues at Borussia Dortmund were no different after the 0:2 defeat at Wembley Stadium. “It’s brutal,” said Emre Can. Niclas Füllkrug admitted: “It hurts a lot.”

BVB had the upper hand for an hour in an entertaining final and wasted a whole series of opportunities. “I think that up until the 1-0 we were the much better team with much, much better chances in front of goal,” said striker Füllkrug. “We played with heart, with footballing class, and launched some incredible attacks,” said defender Mats Hummels. “Then they struck like they’ve been doing for what feels like 100 years.”

• also read: “We were so close”: This is what the players said after the CL final

Goals from Dani Carvajal (74th minute) and Vinícius Júnior (83rd minute) gave record winners Real Madrid a somewhat lucky win. “Against Real, you have to kill the game,” said defender Nico Schlotterbeck, who diagnosed himself as “completely empty.” “I hope I don’t fall into a little hole like that.” He believes “that we had it. It hurts even more when you lose like that when you were so close. That’s why it’s hard to find words.”

“I think we deserve it”

This also applied to Sabitzer, who had a long chat with his ÖFB team-mate David Alaba after the final whistle. Given the great disappointment, he did not feel ready for interviews. Alaba, who was unable to play in the final almost five months after tearing his cruciate ligament, gave Sabitzer a comforting hug before the party in the catacombs of the football cathedral really began. Sabitzer now needs to slow down for a few days, then he will join the ÖFB team and start preparing for the European Championships in Germany.

“The disappointment is very, very big because it is a Champions League final. You don’t usually play that often. And we were very close today,” emphasised BVB sporting director Sebastian Kehl. “I think we deserved it,” added the former player, who also lost the final against FC Bayern at Wembley Stadium with Dortmund in 2013. “It hurts a lot to talk about it like that. But we’re still leaving the pitch with our heads held high and leaving this stadium with a lot of pride,” said Füllkrug.

“We brought almost 100,000 people to London”

In this context, Kehl referred to the fans “who decorated the city in black and yellow” and thanked them for their tireless support. “That is also something you can be very, very proud of when you work for this club,” he said. “We brought almost 100,000 people to London and everyone believed that we could win,” said coach Edin Terzic, for whom the failure to convert opportunities was the crucial point. However, he did not want to talk that night about the fact that Borussia has been lacking a top-class striker since the departure of Erling Haaland, at least for the time being.

“The fans were far superior to the Madrid fans today, you just have to say that. They delivered unbelievably in the city, from what we saw,” said Schlotterbeck. “That’s why I feel really sorry for the fans. They had this trauma last year, and now this year.” The DFB team player made a promise at the end: “We will win a title for the fans at some point, and we will have a really big party.”

BVB idol Marco Reus left the stage quietly. “Unfortunately, it was his last game for Dortmund today,” said Kehl about the 35-year-old, who had been substituted shortly before the goals were scored and, like Sabitzer, did not want to speak publicly after the game. The former Dortmund captain wants to continue his career abroad. What will happen to Hummels is still unclear.