Monaco defeat Dortmund to advance to Champions League semis

Paris April 20 (IANS) AS Monaco battered Borussia Dortmund 3-1 in the second leg for a 6-3 aggregate win in their Champions League quarterfinal clash.

The Ligue 1 club who entered the round-of-16 as an underdog are headed to the semi-finals for the first time since 2004 reports Efe.

Wednesday s contest at the Stade Louis II was played in the shadow of the bombing that marred last week s first leg in Dortmund.

The Dortmund player who suffered a broken wrist in the attack on the team bus Spanish defender Marc Bartra was in the stands and received a Monaco shirt before the start of the match.

After losing 3-2 at home in the first leg the visitors had little choice but to go forward in numbers leaving themselves vulnerable on the counter-attack.

Three minutes in Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Bürki repelled a shot from Benjamin Mendy but left the rebound for 18-year-old phenom Kylian Mbappe who hammered it home to put the hosts ahead 1-0 on the night and 4-2 overall.

Dortmund almost pulled level in the 12th minute when Nihi Sahin hit the post on a direct free kick.

The visiting side fell further into the hole when Radamel Falcao connected on a header in the 17th minute his fifth goal of the current Champions League tourney.

Trailing 5-2 on aggregate Dortmund coach turned to Ousmane Dembele in the 27th minute and the French forward was instrumental in his team s only goal of the night which came on a strike by Marco Reus in the 48th minute.

Mbappe - with 16 goals in 16 matches - continued to torment the beleaguered Dortmund defence and Falcao came close to scoring again.

The visitors grew increasingly ragged as the minutes passed and conceded a third goal in the 81st minute scored by Valere Germain seconds after he came on as a substitute for Mbappe.

--IANS
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