Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp admitted that his team rode its luck during Tuesday’s 2-0 UEFA Champions League semifinal second-leg defeat to Real Madrid at theBernabeu. Nevertheless, he praised his players for qualifying for the UCL final at Wembley on May 25th after winning the two-game series 4-3 on aggregate.
“It was a bit dramatic inthe end, despite the fact we had a lot of counterattacks that led to opportunities to take the lead,” Klopp said. “We knew that Madrid would take an aggressive approach and we managed tocalm things down after 20–25 minutes, but we definitely have ourselves to blame for allowing Madrid back into the game as we missed a couple of sitters. Dortmund apparently are anall-inclusive club, so we always make things exciting, one way or another.”
He added: “We knew that a team like us required a certain amount of luck to reach the final. That wasthe case against Málaga and also today. It wouldn’t have been necessary if we had used one of our chances though. It’s an extraordinary achievement nonetheless … in the end we deservedto go through on aggregate. We deserve to be in the final.”
Klopp said he would let his players go out and celebrate the win. “Nuri [Sahin] apparently knows hisway around Madrid, or so I’ve heard. I’ll stay in the hotel and have a few beers there. The players deserve to have a little time off after a game like this. Perhaps it won’t be ideal in terms of theBayern game [in the Bundesliga] at the weekend, as they might give us a bit of a thumping, but that would be the most pleasant defeat against Bayern that we could ever experience. I’ll definitely notdeny the players’ celebrations — what kind of muppet would I be if I did?”