The 31-year-old scored the only goal in the first match last week, giving Dortmund hope of reaching their first final of the competition since defeat to Bayern Munich in 2013, also at Wembley.
In contrast to the glamor of PSG and their hometown superstar Kylian Mbappe, the blue-collar Fuellkrug is portrayed not only in the image of the current version of the team under Dortmund-born coach Edin Terzic, but also in the club’s broader identity.
While Dortmund remains an underdog to cash-rich PSG despite a narrow lead, Fuellkrug has experience of overcoming adversity.
Fuellkrug is a late-maturing player who played in the Champions League until this season. Fuellkrug’s hopes of reaching his full potential were dashed by a series of grave injuries.
He has missed more than half of a season’s games four times in his career, most notably in 2019-20 when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament.
Fuellkrug consistently represented Germany at youth level, but did not make his senior debut until 2022, when he was just three months shy of turning 30.
He scored 11 goals in 15 games, a testament to his quality in a German side that has consistently failed to impress recently.
Fuellkrug joined Dortmund in August last year from Werder Bremen, with whom he won the Bundesliga top scorer’s trophy last season.
A product of the Bremen academy, Fuellkrug – nicknamed “Luecke” (“Gap”) due to his missing front tooth – bounced around several clubs before returning in 2019. He played a key role in Bremen’s return to the top flight in the 2021–2022 season.
With Euro 2024 approaching, Fuellkrug is Germany’s first choice striker. He was the only member of Dortmund’s squad who was called up for the recent cordial matches against Germany by coach Julian Nagelsmann.
Former Juventus and Italy striker Alessandro Del Piero praised Fuellkrug after the first match against PSG, saying he was “on another level”.
“He’s not that speedy, not that forceful, but he’s extremely effective. He’s underrated,” Del Piero, now a TV pundit, told CBS.
“He is a real threat in the penalty area. He’s a real striker.
“We saw his goal, but in the first half he had an opportunity to shoot, but he calmly gave the ball to Marcel Sabitzer. Great pass.”
– “It doesn’t mean anything yet” –
Although few people expected either Dortmund or Fuellkrug to be in the Champions League semi-finals just a few months ago, the striker said he always believed in himself and the team.
“If I couldn’t imagine it, I don’t think I would be here, playing in the Champions League and playing for the national team,” he said.
“But I’m very ecstatic to be here because as a team we deserve to be in the semi-final.
“It’s good to be 1-0, but it doesn’t mean anything. We need to work well this week to prepare for the rematch.”
Dortmund’s Champions League winners have some experience of going deep into the competition.
Both Mats Hummels and Marco Reus, who announced on Friday that he would leave the club at the end of the season, played for Dortmund in the 2013 final.
Niklas Suele was on the sidelines of Bayern Munich’s victorious team, which defeated PSG in the most essential match of the 2020 season.
The pressure will be on Paris on Tuesday.
The newly crowned Ligue 1 champions’ main goal under Qatari owners was to raise the level of the Champions League, and Mbappe’s expected departure has raised the stakes.
A win or draw in Paris will take Dortmund, who sit fifth in the Bundesliga, into the final, which will be the next stop on an unlikely journey for both the club and its toothless striker.
