Borussia Dortmund Advance To UEFA Champions League Final, Hold Real Madrid To 2-0 Victory

All Borussia Dortmund had to do was hold Real Madrid to a 2-0 win or worse to advance to the UEFA Champions League final. They did just that, allowing two goals to Madrid, but winning the two legged semifinal 4-3 on total goals scored, holding on in the game's final minutes.

Real Madrid waited until the final ten minutes of the match to break through for their first goal. This was thanks, in large part, to the great goalkeeping of Dortmund's Roman Weidenfeller, who denied a number of great scoring chances for Madrid in the first half hour of the match. Had he not made those key saves, Real Madrid may have been just a goal or two away from advancing with over an hour to play in the match.

Thanks to Weidenfeller, Real Madrid had to push harder and harder to score, which resulted in open space for Borussia Dortmund attackers to move the ball forward themselves. This was most apparent early in the second half, where Dortumund had chance after chance to extend their advantage, but failed multiple times thanks to poorly placed shots that either missed their target or were saved by Madrid goalie Diego Lopez.

While Madrid were able to put two goals in towards the end of the match, their efforts were for naught, as Dortmund will advance to the Champions League final at Wembley Stadium, where they will face the winner of the Barcelona/Bayern Munich semifinal, which Bayern currently leads 4-0. To advance, Barcelona will need to win the match by five goals, or win 4-0 and win in extra time or penalty kicks, a highly unlikely outcome.