Special One undone by special opposition

Real Madrid 2 Borussia Dortmund 0

For Jose Mourinho, a punishing fall as well as the first very real failure of his career — and made all the more painful for the manner in which they came so close.

How else to describe this ultimately incredible elimination for Real Madrid? Mourinho will not now deliver that 10th European Cup and the trophy the club ultimately defines itself by.

Asked if he’d still be at Madrid next season, the Portuguese replied: “Maybe not. ’’

He added: “I don’t know but I want to be where people love me to be.”

If, as seems likely, he does leave, a haul of one league title and a potential two domestic cups looks a poor return for one of the most expensive squads ever put together. Like those two dramatic late goals here, it is not enough for a team like this or a club like this.

By contrast, one of the most refreshing squads ever put together may now be on the verge of returning this trophy to Dortmund for the first time in 16 years. In a perverse kind of way, it is also arguably to their credit that they persevered to the final despite conceding those two chaos-creating goals.

Just when they seemed set to cave, Felipe Santana came on, the backline held together and Dortmund just held their nerve.

The most galling part for Real, though, was the intensity of the game’s end was actually matched by its beginning — but with no reward or anything else in between.

Mourinho’s side actually started with a whirlwind very reminiscent of Dortmund and could well have secured progression by the 15th minute. Most notably, Gonzalo Higuain should have taken a one-on-one before Cristiano Ronaldo could only poke at Roman Weidenfeller when presented with a fine opportunity.

At that point, for all Jurgen Klopp’s assurance before the game, it could even be said that a young Borussia Dortmund side betrayed a hint of nerves. Neven Subotic needlessly put the ball out for a corner and they were lucky not to see a penalty given for a Higuain fall.

Whether they withstood that early siege through fortitude or mere fortune is hard to say. What is undeniably true is they recovered their composure and eventually their control. That is to their credit and, by the end, would prove crucial.

Real, meanwhile, were never going to be able to sustain that opening spell without the extra energy of an early goal. It meant that Dortmund had passed the first big test of the evening.

Both Robert Lewandowski and Ilkay Gundogan, in fact, even went and missed the biggest chances of the first 80 minutes. The Pole smashed the bar, the midfielder could only smash it into Diego Lopez’s body.

By that point, Real looked spent, their belief gone.

Then, out of almost nothing, substitute Karim Benzema re-ignited it with a close-range finish. Within minutes, Sergio Ramos kept it alive.

All around, then, there was drama. Weidenfeller pulled off one more astonishing late save; Sebastian Kehl went down injured; Mourinho raged at the delay; Klopp remonstrated with the official about the five minutes’ stoppage time. If ever there was a moment for Ronaldo to properly define his Real career, it was now. That moment, however, never came.

Real may have won the game but it was too late to prevent losing the tie.

Somewhere along the way, too, Mourinho has lost something at this club on the whole.

There are number of possible explanations for that, from the possibility that this was one squad that finally had too many big personalities for him to the manner in which his emotional intensity exhausts teams past a second season. In truth, it is likely a combination of all those factors.

On the night, it all just about came together for Dortmund.

And, as close as they came to squandering it, it is richly deserved.

REAL MADRID: Lopez 8; Essien 5, Varane 6, Ramos 6, Coentrao 5 (Kaka 57; 7); Modric 7, Alonso 6 (Khedira 67; 7); Di Maria 6, Ozil 6, Ronaldo 6; Higuain 5 (Benzema 57; 7).

BORUSSIA DORTMUND: Weidenfeller 8; Piszczek 7, Subotic 7, Hummels 9, Schmelzer 7; Gundogan 7, Bender 7; Blaszczykowski 7, Goetze 6 (Grosskreutz 14), Reus 6; Lewandowski 6 (Kehl 87; Santana 90).

Referee: Howard Webb (Eng).