‘We are no longer playing against football clubs’ – Dortmund reveal why they hate PSG | OneFootball

An animosity will await Paris Saint-Germain as they return to Signal Iduna Park to face Borussia Dortmund. The two teams had already met in the Champions League group stages, but tonight’s meeting, in the semi-final, promises to have more at stake.

For the French champions, this is a moment the club have been waiting for. It is a season where all the pieces feel as if they’re coming together at the exact right time, and there is a sense that this year could be their chance to claim the crown they’ve been desperately searching for.

While in Germany, it will be a story framed in a very different light. To the Bundesliga club, tonight will be about a battle for the soul of football, as Dortmund’s general manager Hans-Joachim Watzke said in November, “We no longer play against football clubs but against states. We play against Qatar, which is the main owner of PSG, and against Saudi Arabia, which is the main shareholder of Newcastle.”

A sentiment that the fans of the club have carried into this match. Surveyed by RMC Sport, the Dortmund faithful were clear on what they thought of Les Parisiens, “We don’t really like them here. I find their players arrogant.” Or as the journalist Patrick Berger of SkySports explained to the French paper, “Here, people are very proud to win on their own. Thanks to the local environment, local sponsors, fans… There would be great pride in beating a team like PSG, backed by a state.”

GFFN | Nick Hartland