Real Madrid v Borussia Dortmund LIVE: Ch…

The stage is definitely set.

Will we be looking at a 15th Champions League trophy for Real, or an impressive second win for one of European football’s cult teams?

Dortmund and Real have met 14 times in this competition, with the first meeting in the semi-finals of the 1997/98 edition.

Madrid beat the champions 2-0 on aggregate en route to winning their seventh title (and first in 32 years).

Perhaps the most famous meeting between the two sides was in the 2012/13 semi-final, where an unfancied Dortmund side – containing the likes of Lewandowski, Reus and Gotze – caused delirium in the Westfalenstadion as they beat Real 4-1. Dortmund, under Jurgen Klopp, reached the final despite losing 2-0 in the Spanish capital.

Madrid won’t have to wait long for revenge, with a rematch in the quarter-finals next season. Goals from Ronaldo, Bale and Isco gave Madrid a 3-0 win at the Bernabeu, which they hung in the second leg before beating arch-rivals Atletico Madrid in the 2014 final.

Overall, Real Madrid has six wins, Dortmund has three, and five games have ended in a draw.

Real Madrid’s social team has taken the opportunity to show off. Here’s a video of some of the highlights from their 14 Champions League victories.

Love him or hate him, there are some incredible stories, from Zidane’s goal at Hampden Park in 2002 to the three-peat in the Ronaldo era.

Madrid’s story is a different story to that of the German club. The established kings of Europe won the first five iterations of this competition in a row, and have enjoyed a steady stream of the most talented players in the world from 1955 to 2024. From Alfredo di Stefano to Cristiano Ronaldo and now Kylian Mbappe, the most successful story in Europe. is destined for something more enthralling.

Los Blancos have won the competition 14 times – twice as many as their closest rivals, AC Milan – and are the most valuable sports team in the world, with annual revenues of around 850 million euros. The Florentino Perez era, which began in the early 2000s, has brought unprecedented success and the Galacticos streak that continues. Although the days of Ronaldo, Benzema and Kroos are over, we may be seeing the dawn of the Mbappe-Bellingham-Vini Jr era.

But despite their success and beloved players, the recent move means the club has a neutral polarization outside the Spanish capital. Perez and Madrid have continuously contributed to increasing their monopolization of the game, as well as being at the forefront of the proposed European Super League.

So when the two meet in the home of English football, the past, present and future couldn’t be more different.

The odds are heavily stacked against Dortmund, but there will be plenty of support for the underdogs, as well as from neutral fans from a roster of proven and up-and-coming superstars.

In recent times, the fierce rivalry with Bayern Munich, respect for the way the club works and the abundance of young talent have contributed to the club’s stellar reputation on the continent.

These factors all came together in the 2012/13 season, when Jurgen Klopp’s entertaining team – which included Robert Lewandowski, Ilkay Gundogan, World Cup winner Mario Gotze and retired legend Marco Reus – reached the Champions League final thanks to a famous victory. Malaga and Real Madrid.

They meet their most important Wembley rivals Der Classic to date, with Arjen Robben giving the Bavarians a 2-1 win.

11 years, Marco Reus and co. will hope to exorcise the ghost of 2013 and give fans different memories of the English capital.

CHAPTER XI: Kobel; Ryerson, Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Maatsen; Sabitzer, Can; Sancho, Brandt, Adeyemi; Full circle.

SUB: Meyer, Lotka, Nmecha, Reus, Sule, Ozcan, Haller, Wolf, Moukoko, Malen, Watjen, Bynoe-Gittens.

So with all the talk of a possible mismatch, a one-sided final or a general gulf between the two clubs, how do each team compare?

Borussia Dortmund’s domestic and European success has made them the second biggest club in Germany, with eight German league titles and five DfB Pokal wins.

But their only successful Champions League campaign was in 1996/97, when a team containing Ballon d’Or winner Matthias Sammer and former Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert managed to upset Juventus in Munich.

Dortmund finished fifth in the Bundesliga this season, and with Real Madrid winning LaLiga, it was the biggest gap between the league finalists since the Champions League was established in 1992.

There have only been two previous finals: Bayern Munich against Valencia in 2001 and Bayern against Chelsea in 2012. The first was against the fifth and the second against the sixth.