Posted On Tuesday, 30th April 2013
Real Madrid’s Ghanaian midfielder Michael Essien (L) vies with Dortmund’s midfielder Kevin Grosskreutz during the UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg football match Real Madrid CF vs Borussia Dortmund at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on April 30, 2013.
Ghana midfielder Michael Essien won’t play in the final of this year’s UEFA Champions League after his Spanish side Real Madrid were eliminated by German side Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.
Essien was in full time action as Real Madrid defeated the Bundesliga side 2-0 at the Bernabeu but the Germans managed to advance 4-3 on aggregate.
The Ghanaian was in good form as they scored two goals in the eight minutes but could not muster the last goal to advance, allowing Dortmund to reach the Champions League final for the first time since 1997.
Madrid needed to score at least three to win and had several chances to score early on after they were beaten 4-1 by the Germans in the first-leg of the semi-final last week.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel Di Maria were both denied by a fine saves in the opening minutes before Mesut Ozil dragged his shot wide from inside the box.
The German side then grew into the match and came closest to opening the scoring.
Robert Lewandowski, their hero from the first leg, rattled the bar just after time.
The game really sprung to life with eight minutes left, substitute Karim Benzema gave them hope when he fired in from close range.
Sergio Ramos then added their a second five minutes later, but they couldn’t score the goal that would have taken them through.
It’s the third Champions League semi-final that Jose Mourinho has lost with them.