sport news Borussia Dortmund 1-0 PSG: Kylian Mbappe's last dance in Paris needs another ... trends now

If this is to be Kylian Mbappe’s last dance before departing for Real Madrid, he best come up with a pretty dazzling tango in Paris next week if he stands any chance of meeting his would-be suitors in the final.

The only consolation for he and his team-mates is that they will probably settle for this scoreline, after a night in which they looked like the PSG of old, all divas and no direction. 

You would not bet against them turning the tie around, as they did against Barcelona in the quarter-final, but they will need to be far better than this.

Amid an occasion of vibrancy and illumination, Mbappe was booted into the shadows by home match-winner Niclas Fullkrug, not to mention man-of-the-match Jadon Sancho. Remember him?

The Manchester United outcast was outstanding, and the prospect of him playing in a Champions League final while his parent club fight to avoid dropping into the Conference League will not be lost on the player, nor those whose trust he did not have at Old Trafford.

They trust him here. In fact, give the ball to Sancho was as good a tactic as any. That Dortmund head to the French capital with just a one-goal advantage is not his fault. He laid on a series of second-half chances that should have been converted. 

But what an intriguing and engaging contest this was. These teams survived the Group of Death and signed off with a draw that suited both in December, on a night when backs were scratched at this stadium. This time, they were trying to stick knives in them.

The first half was all about Dortmund’s ferocity. They led when Fullkrug, the late bloomer who made his Germany debut aged 29 just two years ago, suddenly morphed into Mbappe. Funny that, because Mbappe was playing like a journeyman centre-forward at the other end.

Fullkrug’s touch before finishing was not just a good touch for a big man, it was an outstanding touch for a player of any shape or size. 

Nico Schlotterbeck floated a ball in behind PSG’s backline, where the striker cushioned as if wearing a slipper on his right and smashed home as if fitted with a hammer on his left.

It created a noise that would have woken any residents of a non-football persuasion in this slumbersome city. It is a strange place, Dortmund, a charmless grey, even on a sunny day like this. Everything is grey as you leave the centre towards the stadium. Even the birds are all pigeons.

But then

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