Follow live coverage of Real Madrid vs Dortmund in the Champions League final today
Welcome to matchday. The Champions League final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund kicks off at Wembley Stadium in London at 8pm local time (3pm ET) tonight.
Madrid, one of the game’s most decorated clubs and a powerhouse on the elite stage, take on Dortmund, this season’s fifth-best side in Germany who have punched above their weight to get here. The winners will be crowned champions of Europe.
Wherever you are in the world, we’ve got you covered. In this piece, you will find everything you need to know about the biggest fixture in club football, from tactical talking points to deals with the devil.
Let’s dive in…
Will the ‘Kings of Europe’ add another crown?
Victory at Wembley would secure a 15th European Cup/Champions League title for Madrid. They are the competition’s most successful club by quite some margin (AC Milan are next with seven titles) and their special hold on the trophy has been a hot topic across The Athletic this week.
Just how do they do it?
The club’s die-hard fans will tell you what it’s all about: the irresistible power of their love story with continental-level glory. Banners at the Santiago Bernabeu hail the ‘Kings of Europe’.
The nature of some of their recent results — comeback after comeback, late goal after late goal — certainly gives oxygen to that claim. There is an oft-repeated half-joke even among more analytical observers that it’s simply impossible to explain Madrid’s success, that all attempts at inquiry will be rendered futile, or worse, by an inevitable stoppage-time turnaround or some other bolt from the blue. Like this one:
Super-sub Joselu wins it ⚽️#UCL pic.twitter.com/R1AnNKU9nj
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 9, 2024
Ahmed Walid, Mark Carey and John Muller answered the burning question: are Madrid really impossible to analyse?
Jacob Whitehead and Guillermo Rai took a different approach: a deep dive that includes encounters with the club’s devout and superstitious fanbase — as well as the musings of mystics. Is there some kind of higher power at work?
Dermot Corrigan reminded us that before the miracle of ‘La Decima’ — their 10th European Cup, won in supremely dramatic circumstances — the storytelling around Madrid was really quite different. Tension around achieving the elusive landmark reached feverish fury during years of failure that saw several managers fall.
So Dortmund don’t have a chance?
Faustian bargains aside, there is one clear reason why Madrid are favourites: they have the stronger squad.
The ratings above, based on a model devised by sports intelligence firm Twenty First Group, help show Madrid’s upper hand.
But football is a sport that often springs surprises — especially in knockout tournaments. Just look at Dortmund’s semi-final victory over Paris Saint-Germain.
In the first leg against Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United loanee Jadon Sancho was sensational, and not for the first time since returning to his former club.
Sancho this season 🤤@Sanchooo10 || #UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/kNMr6OBoZM
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 30, 2024
Sancho, along with Karim Adeyemi and Donyell Malen, provides the pace to complement Niclas Fullkrug in Dortmund’s attack — a centre-forward Alan Shearer admires. They have had great success playing on the break, but their run to the final has been grounded in defensive solidity.
The German side have conceded just nine goals in their 12 matches and kept six clean sheets — their most in the Champions League since 1997-98, when they were defending their European title and got to the semi-finals before losing to… Real Madrid.
That 1997 victory is Dortmund’s only Champions League success. They were runners-up in 2013 against Bayern Munich — and that final was also held at Wembley.
Not many fancy them to pull off an upset, but they have already defied the odds to get here.
What to look out for — Madrid’s left wing
Dortmund did cause a shock by knocking out PSG — who missed chance after chance in the return leg in Paris — but Madrid will be a different proposition.
As we’ve touched on, even though Madrid do seem to thrive in moments of suffering and often score goals against the run of play, there is still a method behind the mayhem.
Ancelotti’s use of a 4-4-2 diamond in possession has allowed plenty of rotations at the top end of the field. These are generally skewed towards the left flank.
In the Champions League this season, 42 per cent of Madrid’s attacking touches have been channelled down their left third of the pitch, where Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo have been taking it in turns to torment the opposition full-back.
They have also opened up a new world for Jude Bellingham.
The €103million (£80m; $111m) summer signing — he joined from Dortmund and that initial fee could rise to a club record with variables — has slowed his scoring somewhat of late, but still none of his team-mates have scored more (with 23, he is level with Vinicius Jr in all competitions).
You probably don’t need us to tell you to keep an eye on Bellingham. The 20-year-old’s transfer market value was recently estimated at a world-leading €280million by the CIES Football Observatory, a Swiss research group. But you might not be as familiar with him as our La Liga writers, who recently shared what they’ve learned from his debut season.
All this firepower up front, with Endrick already signed and Kylian Mbappe expected to join him…
The managers in charge
Let’s mention Carlo Ancelotti first. When he leads Madrid out at Wembley to face Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, it will be his sixth Champions League final as a manager and his 1,324th game in the dugout across his career.
He already holds the record for most Champions League trophies won as a manager (four). It will be his 204th match in charge of the competition — another record.
And yet, despite all this, as Dermot Corrigan wrote recently, there remains an idea that the 64-year-old is not really a top coach. Does he get the credit he deserves?
Dortmund boss Edin Terzic, 41, was born in the local region to a Bosnian father and Croatian mother who settled after arriving as ‘gastarbeiters’ (guestworkers). He grew up as a Dortmund fan and this is the only team he has managed in a senior position.
One year ago, he cried in front of the team’s Yellow Wall block of fans as they just missed out on winning the league title. This season, he came close to losing his job, twice. He has faced opposition from his own supporters and, at different times, from two of his most senior players.
But Dortmund have still beaten teams they were never supposed to on their way to tonight’s meeting with Madrid.
The path to the final
New La Liga champions Madrid qualified for the knockout stage ahead of Napoli, SC Braga and Union Berlin. Dortmund, who finished fifth in the German top flight, came through the ‘group of death’, finishing above PSG, AC Milan and Newcastle.
In the last 16, Madrid beat RB Leipzig 2-1 on aggregate, while Dortmund saw off PSV Eindhoven with a 3-1 aggregate win. Then the path to the final was set.
Dortmund will be the nominal ‘home’ team at Wembley and will play in their usual yellow and black kit. Madrid will wear their famous all-white.
How to watch
According to UEFA, the game will be shown in more than 200 territories and will reach 450million people worldwide, with an estimated global average viewership of around 145m.
The final will be broadcast in the United States on CBS/Paramount+. TNT Sports’ deal with UEFA means the broadcaster has to make the Champions League final free to view in the UK.
Auf wiedersehen and adios
Let’s say goodbye — or see you later — with a final word on two departing club legends.
Toni Kroos will play his last match for Real Madrid in Saturday’s showpiece, bringing an end to 10 remarkable years at the club, always lived on his terms. He is still going strong, but has decided to retire from football after playing for Germany at this summer’s home 2024 European Championship.
Kroos, 34, is one of four Madrid players (along with Nacho, Luka Modric and Dani Carvajal) who could win a joint-record sixth Champions League medal.
That would bring them level with Paco Gento. Nobody has more than the former Madrid winger, who died aged 88 in 2022. He was a key part of the side that claimed the first five editions of the competition (when it was the European Cup) from 1956-1960, adding another in 1966.
Like Kroos, Marco Reus will also be bowing out at Wembley. The 35-year-old Dortmund legend fittingly scored a free kick in his final home match earlier this month, his 170th goal for the club in 12 years.
Reus played in that 2013 final defeat by Bayern, which was Kroos’ first taste of success in the competition.
Finally winning the club game’s biggest prize would be some send off, before he perhaps moves on to MLS.
(Top photo: Brendan Moran – Sportsfile/UEFA via Getty Images)
Daniel Miller is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. His coverage spans from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis for sports enthusiasts.
