Champions League Final Preview: Dortmund vs Real in a Wembley Clash of Two Philosophies

On Saturday, Europe will crown a new club champion, with the title going to either a 14-time winner or a 1997 champion. The iconic Wembley Stadium will host the 69th final of this UEFA competition!

Contesting for a new chapter in football history are the undisputed masters of this competition, 14-time champions Real Madrid, and the knockout stage underdogs, Borussia Dortmund.

Dortmund clinched the European title in 1997 and reached the final 16 years later, only to be defeated by Bayern Munich. Back then, the team was led by Jürgen Klopp. Now, Edin Terzić stands at the helm of the team from Signal Iduna Park.

Path to the Final

The journey for the "Millionaires" has been far from easy, as they faced the toughest group stage opponents in AC Milan, PSG, and Newcastle. In the knockout stages, they overcame wealthier and stronger opponents like PSV, Atletico Madrid, and PSG. Led by the famous Yellow Wall, young Dortmund players led by experienced Mats Hummels managed to complete what looked like the impossible back in September.

"It's almost surreal. I think in the grand scheme of things we deserved to reach the final. I know we won't be favourites and it will be extremely difficult. But it's just one match and, over the course of one game, anything is possible. We've proven that already," said Edin Terzić.

Real Madrid also had a challenging path, eliminating the reigning champions Manchester City in the quarter-finals, and triumphing over another German opponent, Bayern Munich, in the semi-finals.

The Madrid team is the favourite among bookmakers for this match. tether.bet offers odd of 1.63 on Real Madrid win after 90 minutes

Ahead of the Wembley showdown, their coach Carlo Ancelotti emphasised the team quality that Real possesses.

"We've had so many problems, so many big injuries, not just the guys who were out long term. We lost Vinícius Júnior, Bellingham and others for decent spells and nobody really talked about that. We have fantastic ability and character in this squad."

Statistics and Form

Madrid are unbeaten in their 12 matches in the competition this season (W8 D4). Remarkably, this is the first time they have reached a European Cup/Champions League final without losing a match.

Dortmund have lost only one of their last 11 European outings (W7 D3), keeping clean sheets in six of those games and scoring the first goal in nine of their last ten matches.

Dortmund's last Champions League final also took place at Wembley Stadium, where they lost 2-1 to Bayern in 2013. Mats Hummels and Marco Reus, still playing pivotal roles for the club 11 years later, bring valuable experience against a Madrid side familiar with the grand stage of European football, having lost only one of their last 20 UEFA competition matches against German teams (W13 D6).

Farewell to Legends

After 12 years and 428 first-team appearances for his boyhood club, Marco Reus is set to end his Dortmund career at the season's close. The attacking midfielder, recently hailed as a "living legend" by coach Edin Terzić, has amassed 170 goals and 131 assists for Die Schwarz-Gelben, winning the German Cup twice.

For Madrid's Toni Kroos, this will be the final game of his club career, as he plans to retire after UEFA EURO 2024. The four-time Champions League winner, who recently reached 150 games in the competition, expressed his desire to finish his career at the peak of his performance.

Night of Records

Josep Guardiola, Bob Paisley, and Zinédine Zidane have each won this competition three times as a coach. But Carlo Ancelotti, with four victories (two with AC Milan and two with Madrid), stands unmatched. Also a two-time winner as a player at Milan, the 64-year-old now heads to his sixth Champions League final as a coach.

Ancelotti isn't the only one eyeing milestones at Wembley. Two of his players could make history should Madrid claim the silverware again. Luka Modrić and Dani Carvajal could join Madrid great Paco Gento as the only players to win the European Cup six times.

photo: UEFA.com/AFP via Getty Images

Modrić and Carvajal, now 38 and 32 respectively, already share the record for five triumphs with Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo. Toni Kroos could feature in his fifth showpiece victory. Meanwhile, Madrid's Arda Güler and Dortmund's Salih Özcan hope to become the first Turkish players to win the competition.

Goals Galore

This match will be the 15th encounter between these sides in European club competition, promising high entertainment and goals. Their previous 14 contests have produced 43 goals – an average of 3.07 per game. The most recent four matches have yielded 17 of those, with each game featuring at least four goals.

A high-scoring encounter would defy the recent trend in finals, as the last four have all ended 1-0. The last final with more than two goals was Madrid's 3-1 victory against Liverpool in 2018. This promises excitement for neutrals but may cause frayed nerves for the fans!

tether.bet offers odd of 2.09 on both teams to score & over 2.5 goals!

Predicted Line-ups

Dortmund:

Kobel; Ryerson, Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Maatsen; Can, Sabitzer; Adeyemi, Brandt, Sancho; Füllkrug

Suspended: None

Real Madrid:

Courtois; Carvajal, Nacho, Rüdiger, Mendy; Valverde, Kroos, Camavinga; Bellingham; Rodrygo, Vinícius Júnior

Suspended: None

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