Real Madrid are seeking a record 15th European Cup.
Borussia Dortmund intends to cause one of the biggest surprises in football in recent times.
Whoever wins Saturday’s Champions League final will be defying the odds in their own way.
Real Madrid’s dominance in the biggest prize in European football confuses beliefs. Their record of 14 titles is double that of their closest rivals, AC Milan.
“The club created its history in this competition”, says coach Carlo Ancelotti.
Real Madrid’s record in the Champions League era is even more impressive: eight wins since the tournament was renamed in 1992; three consecutively between 2016 and 2018 and five in the last 10 years. In the same period, Madrid won La Liga just four times.
Madrid have also been semi-finalists in 12 of the last 14 seasons.
“It’s something special for the club, for all Madrid fans and for us, who are also Madrid fans. It’s a competition where we are more focused”, says Ancelotti, who could win his fifth Champions League as a coach.
Teams should not enjoy such superiority in a competition filled with the biggest and richest clubs in the world. Not even great teams of recent times like Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona or Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United – both repeat finalists – could come close to the kind of dominance Real Madrid had in the Champions League. And even in the face of competition from state-backed teams such as Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, Europe’s all-time king refuses to be dethroned.
That’s why this final is so intriguing.
It’s a clash between the old money and glamor of Madrid and the clever approach of a Dortmund team who have found an alternative way to compete with Europe’s superpowers.
There is no better illustration of the contrast between the rivals than Jude Bellingham, who left Dortmund for Real Madrid last year in a deal worth up to $139 million.
Bellingham could well be the winner of the match, having helped Real Madrid win the Spanish title in a spectacular debut season.
However, in his absence, Dortmund are on the verge of adding to their only Champions League triumph in 1997 in their third ever final.
Selling players like Bellingham is part of the German club’s strategy of buying emerging talent and then making a profit.
A year earlier, it was Erling Haaland who was sold to Man City. The list of stars who have passed through the club includes Jadon Sancho, Christian Pulisic, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ousmane Dembele and Robert Lewandowski.
Not that Dortmund represents a fairy tale in the strictest terms. Forbes ranks it as the 12th most valuable football team in the world in its latest rich list. But it represents a different way of competing at the top.
Dortmund’s willingness to give young players opportunities before selling them to bigger clubs has made them an attractive option for players like Haaland and Bellingham, who were targets of Manchester United before opting to develop their careers in Germany.
“I was at Dortmund for three years, I followed a path that was a bit unknown to England players,” said Bellingham. “But I am grateful for the opportunities I have been given in European football. Maybe they weren’t as accessible in England.”
Bellingham’s decision paid off for all parties. He plays alongside Vinicius Junior and Eduardo Camavinga, and Kylian Mbappe is expected to join them next season.
This talent has been the basis of Real Madrid’s dominance in the Champions League. Many of football’s biggest names have worn the white shirt, from Zinedine Zidane to Cristiano Ronaldo.
Dortmund do it in a different way. Alongside the young upstarts, the country got last-gasp tries from older stars Mats Hummels, Niclas Fullkrug and Marcel Sabitzer to chart a path to a first final in 11 years. The signing of Sancho on loan, after his troubled spell at United, was also crucial.
Although they endured a disappointing Bundesliga, finishing fifth and 27 points behind champions Bayer Leverkusen, Dortmund eliminated Dutch champions PSV and French champions PSG in the Champions League playoffs under Edin Terzic.
“Our objective is to win the Champions League and to do that we have to beat the champions. Now the absolute champion historically, and in particular in this competition, awaits us”, says Terzic. “If anyone showed that you can achieve a lot in a game, it was us, especially this season and especially in this competition.”
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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