Like both Champions League the finalists left for London, the contrasting feelings between the teams were enough. For Real Madrid, it is a sense of duty. There is excitement about returning to this phase, of course, but also an awareness that this is simply what they do. They go to these games and win them. For Borussia Dortmund, there is a sense of genuine wonder. Coach Edin Terzic described it as “a dream”. This is only the third Champions League final in its history and the first in 11 years. Many of his players are aware that they may never get that chance again. For Marco Reus, the club’s stalwart, it can even if it’s the last chance to properly fulfill your talent and win a big trophy.
As rare as this feeling is for Dortmund, it’s actually not that rare in this final. The Champions League final may be the biggest global event in club football – and perhaps in all of sport, after the World Cup final – but it has rarely featured a clash between Europe’s two best teams. They tend to arrive early in qualifiers, usually involving Real Madrid and Manchester City in recent times. The curiosity of this goes back further, through what was one of the last unpredictabilities left in the Champions League. In the 11 years since Dortmund last appeared at this stage, there have probably been six finals in which there was a strong favourite. That’s it certainly the second in a rowafter Inter Milan surprisingly lively 1-0 defeat for City last season.
It could also be the last year of this. From next season expanded the “Champions Super League”, The knockout stages will be fully distributed after the first round open table. Therefore, while it is possible to place Real Madrid and Arsenal on the same side of the draw again, it is unlikely that Real Madrid, City, Arsenal and Bayern Munich will all be on the same side. Or whoever their equivalents are as next season’s top four teams. It will certainly be a little more difficult for teams that aren’t at the elite level, while also representing just another form of curation and engineering of elite football.
Maybe that’s why this final should be appreciated, in the same way that Dortmund’s players view it. If it’s the last of an era, this game almost represents an extreme. The simple numbers say enough, before getting into bigger issues like finances.
Real Madrid are competing in their 15th Champions League and their sixth in 11 years, while Carlos Ancelotti could earn his fifth as a coach. Dortmund are hoping for only the second, and the first in 27 years.
Reflecting this is the relative gulf between league positions. With Real Madrid as champions of Spain and Dortmund fifth in the Bundesliga, it is the biggest difference between the finalists’ league position since the founding of the Champions League in 1992. Only two previous finals have equaled it, which was in 2001 between Bayern Munich and Valencia and 2012 between Bayern and Chelsea. It was first against fifth and second against sixth, respectively. The latter produced a “surprise” but Chelsea’s long-term strength ensured it came nowhere near what a Dortmund victory would be here.
This made for a slightly strange build-up to this Champions League final game. It doesn’t look epic, although that’s obviously not the case for the tens of thousands of Dortmund fans traveling. You could almost call it the 2002 World Cup syndrome. As exhilarating as the shocks and surprises are, they often suppress the real ending. There is a very big gap at this point. Consequently, very few people look at this game and expect anything other than a Madrid victory. The expectation mainly revolves around how long Dortmund will be able to stay alive; how close they come to causing something big.
Ancelotti won’t let Real Madrid think that way, of course. He has already pointed out how people would have said the same about Dortmund’s run to this final so far. The German side probably should have been eliminated for Atlético de Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain. Luck is a big part of why they’re here, to catch up on what was actually the more forgiving side of the draw.
This has an emotional boost of its own, which can lift teams to greater heights on occasions like this.
It turns out that no one tends to reach a higher level than Real Madrid in these games and that also applies to the luck they enjoy. Ancelotti’s team should have lost the last final, against Liverpool in 2022, except for the excellence of Thibaut Courtois. Madrid won again. That’s what they do. This is why there is an extra psychological obstacle. Dortmund doesn’t just need to overcome Real Madrid’s current quality. They also have to overcome the knowledge of their historic record in finals.
Real Madrid have not lost in this game since losing to Liverpool in 1981. That wouldn’t necessarily stand out except for the fact that they have since won eight consecutive Champions League finals. There are more finals than any other European club in its entire history, apart from AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Juventus and Barcelona.
It has to end at some point, so it could be in a season that has already featured a surprise sequel; where strange things happened? The Wembley final has the potential to be a strange game. Both teams would prefer to distance themselves. Terzic made Dortmund more pragmatic. Ancelotti prefers to simply release Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo on the counterattack. Among them, Jude Bellingham is injured.
There is a central local rivalry as wellwith the way the English midfielder faces revitalized compatriot Jadon Sancho. The winger on loan from Dortmund is from London, if not from the Wembley area. He was excellent in the semi-finals against Paris Saint-Germain to win the tie, but it would probably take something more than that to turn things around. Real Madrid have a lot of class, which will be able to open more holes in Dortmund’s porous defense. The best hope is almost for Terzic’s team to hold firm for as long as possible and then wait for that kind of knockout magic to take hold.
It says a lot that we are chasing the intangible, but that was also the theme of last weekend’s FA Cup final. Manchester United surprised Manchester City. It will take even more for Dortmund to shock Real Madrid – but it could happen.
In relation to previous games here and recent iterations of this game, both Wembley and UEFA could make everything go well. The last UEFA event here was the disastrous Euro 2020 final. The last two Champions League finals were logistical nightmareswith that 2022 game in Paris lucky to avoid death.
Both the Football Association and UEFA absorbed all of this. Another outer perimeter will be built, there are improved gates. The hope is that everything goes well.
On the field, Madrid will just try to do what they always do. Dortmund want to give us something we haven’t seen in years.
The Champions League undoubtedly needs this. Another victory for Real Madrid would just be more of the same, and the record means little more. For Dortmund, it would be everything.
