The 2021-22 season played a major role in the careers of Niclas Füllkrug and Jadon Sancho. Füllkrug’s goals helped Werder Bremen’s promotion to Bundesliga triggering a chain of events that, months before he was 30, earned him a Germany call-up and on to the World Cup where he scored twice. By then, the hyperbole of English pundits notwithstanding, Sancho was touted as the next big thing. The £73m Manchester United paid Borussia Dortmund for him was thought to be a steal. Barely making an impression and after a spat with Eric ten Hag, Sancho was loaned back to Dortmund last January.
![Dortmund's German forward #14 Niclas Fuellkrug (R) celebrates with midfielder #10 Jadon Sancho (L) and #19 Julian Brandt(AFP) Dortmund's German forward #14 Niclas Fuellkrug (R) celebrates with midfielder #10 Jadon Sancho (L) and #19 Julian Brandt(AFP)](https://www.hindustantimes.com/ht-img/img/2024/05/02/550x309/FBL-EUR-C1-DORTMUND-PSG-123_1714657686454_1714657735747.jpg)
On Wednesday, Füllkrug and Sancho tangoed to put Dortmund 1-0 ahead in the Champions League semi-final against Paris St-Germain (PSG). Reproducing the effervescence Manchester United rarely, if ever, saw, Sancho’s happy feet would have given PSG left-back Nuno Mendes unhappy memories of Dortmund’s home ground before and after Füllkrug’s 36th minute goal that separates the sides going to Paris next Tuesday.
At a time of reports that Manchester United, after the Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS took over football operations, will looking at offers for all senior team players barring Rasmus Højlund, Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho, it will be interesting to see if this Sancho show leads to a change of heart. Whether Borussia Dortmund can match his wages and the likely hefty transfer fee to keep Sancho where he wants to be too will be closely watched before and during the summer transfer window. Two more good games in the Champions League can help repair Dortmund’s season but will they get Sancho to travel to Germany for the Euros?
Early in the game, Sancho – recalled by Dortmund after the group stage of the 2017 under-17 World Cup much to the disappointment of Kolkata – motioned to right-back Julian Ryerson to move up before swiveling and shifting inside. Soon after, he dispossessed Mendes and found Julian Brandt.
Even if PSG read the early warning signs, there wasn’t much they could do about them. Sancho controlled a half-clearance from a corner-kick, danced into the penalty area, beat two challenges and found Brandt whose shot was deflected. On the hour mark, he again skipped past Mendes and laid the kind of ball he regularly would for Erling Haaland when they were teammates. Füllkrug shinned it over. Who knows how crucial that will be.
Or how crucial Marquinhos’ sliding interception will be. It denied Brandt after Sancho, more central this time, had threaded a pass through PSG’s defence. Sancho had 12 dribbles, the most in a Champions League game this season, showing that arrogance and swagger were not terms associated with him only off the pitch. As per FBRef.com, he had 33 touches, most by a Dortmund player, 17 in the attacking third. With Ryerson providing cover, it was why Dortmund channeled 54% of their attacks down the right.
“Sancho was extraordinary but we have seen it often in training… we know his quality,” said Dortmund manager Edin Terzic. “It’s maybe not so easy to bring it onto the field, especially when you haven’t had rhythm for a while.”
PSG had come close to levelling the tie minutes earlier but Kylian Mbappe and then Achraf Hakimi hit the inside of either post in the same move. Fabian Ruiz headed over and Ousmane Dembele missed half-chances, had a shot saved by Gregor Kobel before going over in the 80th minute with the full goal in front of him. Equally, Füllkrug could have had a hattrick for the 1997 winners.
Füllkrug’s 10 touches, two of them in the penalty area, were the least among Dortmund players. Yet, he had one shot on target, one attempt blocked and two that went wide. He attempted only six passes but completed five. He is not fast and is the anti-thesis of the modern attacking player who can play anywhere in the forward line, false nine as well. But he is big, strong, can shoot with both feet and is good at headers. Time was when centre-forwards needed nothing more.
In Haaland, Joselu, Darwin Núñez, Højlund, Alvaro Morata, and Füllkrug the idea may have made a comeback. Like Barcelona, Dortmund kept getting the ball behind PSG’s defence. The goal came when Füllkrug brought down a long pass from Nico Schlotterbeck with his right foot and smacked home with the left. His goal contributions against Newcastle, PSV, PSG and Atletico Madrid before this, all at Signal Iduna Park, are why Dortmund are in the semi-final. Füllkrug, 31, is the other side of the story of a club that has been a finishing school for Haaland, Jude Bellingham, Sancho and Achraf Hakimi.
Füllkrug’s form, Rüdi Voeller and Julian Nagelsmann signing new deals at the federation and the return of Toni Kroos to the national team have contributed to the feel-good vibes in Germany ahead of the Euros. The possibility of another Dortmund-Bayern final, 11 years after the last, will add to that.