PAUL LAMBERT has never had to buy a beer in Dortmund since the night he knocked Zinedine Zidane out of the Champions League final.
Elevated to legendary status in the city after the shock 3-1 victory over Juventus in 1997, the former Scotland midfielder knows Jadon Sancho will also become an immortal there if he leads the club to victory at Wembley on Saturday.
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Sancho, 24, is back in the German national team, on loan from Manchester United.
Now the winger must defeat Real Madrid and his former Dortmund teammate Jude Bellingham. Lambert said: “It’s one of those make-or-break times where you have to try.
“For Jadon, this is a great opportunity – he can become a legend forever at Dortmund.
“After what we did against Juventus, they still call me a “legend” at Dortmund and, in fact, Jude used to call me that and I had to politely ask him to stop doing that!
“Jude moved from Dortmund and everything went very well, but that was not the case with Jadon. He had a nightmare at United and it would have been difficult to go through that.
“Now, he is not being criticized by the fans, the media, the pundits or his manager.
“Everyone loves him at Dortmund, where he was before.
“He’s been excellent and you’ve got to give him some credit. Against Real, Jadon has to try to make a difference. He has that little bit of arrogance that I like. He kind of says, ‘Give me the ball and I’ll get it.’
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And if Dortmund manages to win this game, it will be sensational.
“They need to defend well, be careful with Real on the counterattack and commit some tactical fouls against Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Jude, who also arrives late in the area and is now a big threat.”
Lambert, who won the European Cup in Munich 27 years ago, still plays for Dortmund’s Legends XI and is the club’s coach.
He will be at several fan events tomorrow.
The 54-year-old former Norwich and Aston Villa manager is a huge fan of Bellingham – despite wanting the 20-year-old former Dortmund player to have a “nightmare” tomorrow.
He added: “I’m not surprised by Jude’s performance. He’s always been unbelievable and what I love about him is he’s always been so humble.
“I once went to watch one of his games against Wolfsburg and he texted me afterwards saying: ‘Paul, I don’t know if you’re a shirt collector but I want to give you one of my shirts’.
“When he gave it to me later, he was drenched in sweat. I joked, ‘Jude, great players don’t worry.’ He’s a lovely boy but obviously I hope he has a nightmare on Saturday!”
There could, however, be a third Englishman playing a role tomorrow.
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Jamie-Bynoe Gittens, 19, has played 57 games in three years for Dortmund since leaving Manchester City.
Lambert added: “He has been excellent when needed. He runs to people and makes things happen.”
Meanwhile, Lambert enjoys his strong ties with Dortmund despite only spending one full season in Germany before joining Celtic.
He said: “It’s great to still be involved with Dortmund and I played legendary games for them.
“On Sunday, I was coach of Celtic Legends against them, but Dortmund were short of players.
“At half-time I wore the Dortmund shirt and played for them in the second half. There were 33,000 fans at Parkhead, which was decent.
“I have also trained for Dortmund at some clinics in Indonesia and Australia this year and will return to Australia next month.
“On Saturday I will be at some events talking to the fans together with Karl-Heinz Riedle.
“I was also invited to Dortmund’s post-match party and I hope they take the Champions League trophy with them.”
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
