It's the Hope that kills you

Last night was a reminder why football can be so cruel at times, no matter how hard you try some things are just inevitable as Dortmund fell short once again at the final hurdle. I can't imagine how heartbreaking it must be for the passionate fans of Borussia Dortmund to see their team crumble in the second half after dominating Madrid in the first half. Contrary to what people thought Dortmund started the game valiantly looking to press higher up the pitch and played so much better all over the pitch in the initial stages of the game. The backline looked solid, midfielders were winning ground duels and the frontline looked energetic by offering runs in behind.

First half overview from Sofascore (Green: Dortmund, Purple: Real Madrid)

But even after a dominant first half display from Dortmund they had nothing to show for it, as missed chances from Karim Adeyemi and Fullkrug proved to be a thorn in their side. Those two missed chances from Adeyemi will definitely haunt him for some time as in a high profile fixture like this it is imperative to be clinical in front of the goal.

But props to Real Madrid as they showed once again why they're the most fearsome team in Europe as even though they looked below par in the first half, after re-emerging from the tunnel they looked like a different team altogether. And when that first goal went in from the corner I honestly turned off the stream because I knew it was already game over, as teams like Madrid feed on momentum and after that there was no way Dortmund could get back in the game.

An Emotional Farewell for Reus

Look up Loyalty in any dictionary/thesaurus and you will definitely see his name, Marco Reus is a name that has been engraved in the hearts and history of Borussia Dortmund where he almost spent his entire youth and professional career. But despite doing "everything right" as he said himself, the dream of walking away with a major trophy eluded him even in his final season.

Reus' final game at the Signal Iduna Park

If you look at his profile you would expect a player who was a regular starter for the German NT, who won the German POTY twice and the Bundesliga POTY thrice to have a stunning trophy cabinet, but you would be totally surprised to know that he does not have single League Title, UCL trophy or even an International trophy! This is because he was probably the unluckiest footballer I've seen in my time as he narrowly missed out on a lot major tournaments, important fixtures just because he was injury-prone, the worst happened when he was at his peak but injured his foot in the last friendly before the 2014 World Cup which Germany eventually won. Nevertheless, as I mentioned earlier football can be a bit cruel sometimes but all in all Reus has enjoyed a stellar career at Borussia Dortmund and is signing off as a Club Legend and has immortalized his name in the history books as a loyal club icon.

But at times like what really begs a question is that "Is it really worth hoping for especially after it kills you time and again?"