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By Alessandro Schiavone

London-born former Watford man sends his team through to Champions League last-8


By Alessandro Schiavone in Dortmund


Goals: Jadon Sancho, Marco Reus (D)


A Londoner delivered on the stage where legacies are made to help Borussia Dortmund ease past PSV Eindhoven and into the Champions League quarter-finals thanks to a 2-0 (3-1 aggregate) win.


Jadon Sancho, formerly a Watford youth player between the age of seven and fifteen, rolled a low effort into the bottom corner to set Dortmund on their way to Europe's G8.


A reunion with north London giants Arsenal is now possible for the Camberwell-born ace who is on loan at Signal Iduna Park until June.


His goal came seconds after fellow Premier League loanee Ian Maatsen from Chelsea saw his thumping strike tipped over by PSV keeper Walter Benitez.


But Sancho put the Black and Yellow in charge in front of 81365 supporters after catching out the Argentine from distance with a well-placed effort.


And with PSV looking like rabbits in the headlights and hiding like scared puppies, Sancho had the freedom of the Dutch penalty area.


He attempted a few dribbles here and there but Dortmund failed to add to their tally despite their  stranglehold on the game.


Niclas Füllkrug and Donyell Malen all had chances to put daylight between the two teams before the tables turned in the second 45 minutes.


Mexican Hirving Lozano hit the outside of the crossbar and Brentford's summer target Johan Bakayoko also saw his near-post effort brilliantly palmed away by Gregor Köbel. But the best one dropped to Luuk De Jong who fired a missile over the crossbar deep into stoppage time despite being clean through on goal.


Subsequently Dortmund went down the other end as Sancho's replacement Marco Reus pounced on Babadi's slip-up to seal a 2-0 win with the last kick of the game.


Talked about for weeks on end after aiming a jibe at Erik ten Hag which led to him being banished from first-team training and not considered for selection in the first part of the season at Manchester United, UEFA's man of the match Sancho is now itching to return to our shores to prove his detractors wrong. And who knows, perhaps convince England manager Gareth Southgate to take a punt on him by selecting him for Euro 2024 staged in the footballing country that's getting the best out of him. Yesterday's was a performance for the ages, indicative of the ridiculous amount of talent he has blessed with and that the Dutchman in the Old Trafford failed to see for some unfathomable reason.


And he'd certainly bite anyone's hand off to be paired with Arsenal in Friday's draw in Nyon.


Because if a bad day in London is still better than a good day anywhere else... then a personal blank at the Emirates office coinciding with progress to the semis of the Champions League at the expense of Arsenal would still eclipse a goal marred by an exit against anyone else, wouldn't it?





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