Champions League upsets don’t happen very often. Over the last 15 years, the number of clubs that can feasibly win the most prestigious title in European club soccer has contracted to the point that only a handful of teams can truly target continental glory every season. Borussia Dortmund, however, have bucked this trend.
Nobody expected the Black and Yellows to make a run all the way to the final of this season’s Champions League. This is a team that finished a lowly fifth place in the Bundesliga this term. And perhaps more pertinently – this is a club with a reputation for bottling it in the biggest matches.
Yet Dortmund will be at Wembley this weekend.
Naturally, Real Madrid are favourites to win yet another Champions League final having won the competition 14 times before. Carlo Ancelotti’s team ran away with the Spanish title this season and saw off Bayern Munich and Manchester City on their way to setting up Saturday’s showdown with Dortmund.
In Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior, Real Madrid boast two of the best players in the world at this moment in time. From front to back, Los Blancos are stacked. Their midfield is the strongest in European soccer with figures such as Rodrygo and Fede Valverde known for producing a big moment from time to time.
Dortmund, though, are accustomed to being underdogs by now. They were underdogs against Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals and Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals, but found a way to win. Dortmund were even unfancied to make it out their group after being drawn alongside AC Milan, Newcastle United and PSG. Yet they advanced, and perhaps were better for having fought their way through a tough group.
In the Champions League this season, Edin Terzic’s team have had the sort of resolve that has evaded them in the Bundesliga. This was evident in the semi-finals second leg victory over PSG when Dortmund stayed compact, kept the French giants at arm’s length and caused damage both on the break and from set pieces.
Borussia Dortmund will seek to recycle their PSG game plan against Real Madrid on Saturday. Real Madrid’s approach is geared towards getting in behind opposition defences and so Dortmund will do their best to deny the Spanish champions that space in behind. They can’t afford Bellingham and Vinicius freedom.
If Dortmund pull off a victory at Wembley, it would be the biggest shock winner of the Champions League since Jose Mourinho’s Porto 20 years ago. Mourinho’s Inter also produced a surprise by lifting the trophy in 2010, but the Nerazzurri were a dominant force in Italian soccer at that time. The same can’t be said of Dortmund in German soccer right now.
“It’s the biggest title you can win in club football,” said Terzic ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final. “We’ve only managed it once in the club’s history, which also just shows how special this chance is for us. It’s not getting easier for us to be successful, and that’s why I think it would be a very special story to win. If you do it together, stick together, all think in the same direction, stay positive, show resilience and a lot of bravery, then you, too, can celebrate in the end.”
It is reflective of modern soccer that it would be an upset for a team as big as Borussia Dortmund to win the Champions League. This is a club that boasts the largest average attendance in the Bundesliga and has previously won the Champions League, and yet they are now considered outsiders to the elite group led by the likes of Manchester City and Real Madrid.
Dortmund deserve their place in this season’s Champions League final. They have more than proven their pedigree against the highest-level sides like Atletico Madrid, AC Milan and PSG. If their track record in this season’s campaign is any indication, they will be difficult opponents for Real Madrid on Saturday. Should the Black and Yellows lift the trophy, the spectre of Mourinho’s Porto and their 2004 triumph will hang over Wembley, as Dortmund etch their own story into tournament lore.
