PAUL LAMBERT has never had to buy a beer in Dortmund since the night he marked Zinedine Zidane out of a Champions League final.
Elevated to legendary status in the city following a shock 3-1 triumph over Juventus in 1997, the former Scottish midfielder knows Jadon Sancho will also become an immortal there if he guides the club to a Wembley win on Saturday.
Sancho, 24, is back with the German outfit on loan from Manchester United.
Now the winger must see off Real Madrid and his former Dortmund team-mate, Jude Bellingham. Lambert said: “It is one of those s**t or bust occasions when you have to go for it.
“For Jadon, this is a really great opportunity — he could become a legend forever at Dortmund.
“After what we did against Juventus, they still call me a “legend” in Dortmund and actually, Jude used to call me that and I had to politely ask him to stop doing it!
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“Jude moved from Dortmund and it has gone so well but that has not been the case for Jadon. He has had a nightmare at United and it would have been tough to go through that.
“Now, he is not getting criticised by fans, media, pundits or his manager.
“Everyone loves him at Dortmund, where he was before.
“He has been excellent and you have to give him some credit. Against Real, Jadon has to try and make a difference. He has got that wee bit of arrogance I like. He sort of says, ‘Give me the ball and I will take it’.
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And if Dortmund can win this game, it would be sensational.
“They need to defend well, be careful of Real on the counter-attack and make some tactical fouls against Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Jude, who also arrives late in the box and is now such a threat.”
Lambert, who lifted the European Cup in Munich 27 years ago, still plays for Dortmund’s Legends XI, and is a coach at the club.
He will be at various supporter events tomorrow.
The former Norwich and Aston Villa manager, 54, is a huge fan of Bellingham — despite wanting the former Dortmund man, 20, to have a “nightmare” tomorrow.
He added: “I am not surprised at how well Jude is doing. He has always been unbelievable and what I love about him is that he has always been so humble.
“I once went to watch one of his games against Wolfsburg and he texted me afterwards and said, ‘Paul, I don’t know if you are a collector of shirts but I want to give you one of my jerseys’.
“When he gave it to me afterwards, it was soaking wet with sweat. I joked, ‘Jude, great players don’t sweat’. He’s a lovely kid but obviously, I hope he has a nightmare on Saturday!”
There could, however, be a third Englishman playing a part tomorrow.
Jamie-Bynoe Gittens, 19, has featured 57 times in three years for Dortmund since leaving Manchester City.
Lambert added: “He has been excellent when needed. He runs at people and makes things happen.”
Meanwhile, Lambert enjoys his strong ties with Dortmund even though he spent just one full season in Germany before joining Celtic.
He said: “It is great to still be involved with Dortmund and I have played in legends games for them.
“On Sunday, I was manager of Celtic Legends against them but Dortmund were short of players.
“At half-time, I put on a Dortmund jersey and played for them in the second half. There were 33,000 fans at Parkhead, which was decent.
“I also coached for Dortmund at some clinics in Indonesia and Australia this year and will be going back to Australia next month.
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“On Saturday, I will be at some events talking to the fans along with Karl-Heinz Riedle.
“I’ve also been invited to Dortmund’s post-match party and I hope they have the Champions League trophy with them.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
