Mats Hummels feels that everyone fancied their chances against Borussia Dortmund (Picture: Getty Images)
Mats Hummels has sent a message to Borussia Dortmund’s doubters, of which he feels there are many, after they booked a spot in the Champions League final.
The centre-back scored the only goal of the game away at Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night, completing a 2-0 aggregate semi-final win after another narrow victory in Germany.
That came after an impressive comeback against Atletico Madrid in the quarters, losing 2-1 in Spain before beating Diego Simeone’s side 4-2 in Dortmund.
It has not been a good season for Dortmund in the Bundesliga, sitting fifth in the table and a long way off challenging Bayer Leverkusen for the title.
Perhaps that has seen their Champions League rivals underestimate them and Hummels believes plenty of sides have hoped they draw Dortmund in the knockout stages.
The Germany international says his team are happy to oblige, giving plenty of teams the chance to face them as they make it all the way to the showpiece.
‘So many teams wanted to play against us,’ Hummels tweeted. ‘Luckily we are really nice guys and made it to the final so that as many as possible of them get the chance.’
Dortmund boss Edin Terzic admitted that no one fancied Dortmund to reach this stage, but believes there is always one team that fills that role each sseason.
‘There is always a team that no one has on their radar that reaches the quarter-finals or the semi-finals,’ he said. ‘We wanted to be the team that were not necessarily on anyone’s radar. That road has been unbelievable.’
Hummels was the unlikely goal-scoring hero on Tuesday night (Picture: Getty Images)
It was understandable that Dortmund were not widely fancied after picking up just one point from their opening two group stage games, losing to PSG and then drawing at home with AC Milan.
‘After the second matchday, almost no one believed in us any more,’ said Emre Can. ‘We only had one point after two matches, but we kept believing and that was the most important thing. Keeping two clean sheets in two matches against PSG is no mean feat.’
MORE : Jadon Sancho feels ‘at home’ at Dortmund and wants to leave Manchester United
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