Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid will decide the new winner of the Champions League trophy. The clash between the two teams is tonight at 22:00 Bulgarian time at Wembley. The 1997 tournament champions and the competition's record-holder, who has 14 trophies under his belt, will face each other at the National Stadium in London. The match will be broadcast live on bTV Action and MAX Sport 3.
Carlo Ancelotti's Real will try to bring the trophy back to Madrid again after 2022, when Liverpool were defeated in the final. The Royals are overwhelming favorites for a 15th triumph in 18 finals appearances, having first dethroned Manchester City in the quarter-finals en route to Wembley, holding off the Citizens in the second leg at the Etihad and then winning on penalties. The Whites also struggled against Bayern Munich in the last four, trailing 0:1 at the Bernabeu until the 88th minute before Joselu scored twice to send the German giants home. Ancelotti's side became La Liga champions in convincing fashion and will be looking for a double to end the season in style.
Against themselves, the Madrid players will have an unexpected opponent - an opponent who, however, has demonstrated since the groups that he should not be underestimated. Dortmund got out of the Group of Death with Paris Saint-Germain, Newcastle and AC Milan, before overcoming PSV Eindhoven, Atletico Madrid and PSG in quick succession. Against the Parisians, The Yellow and Blacks won twice by 1:0 for a first Champions League final since 2013, when the team lost to arch-rivals in the Bundesliga Bayern 1:2. Curiously, that loss to the Bavarians came at Wembley, where now Edin Terzic's Borussia will seek revenge. Dortmund's only triumph in the competition came in 1997 when they beat Juventus in contention for the trophy. The club will play in the first edition of the Champions League in the tournament's new format after finishing fifth in the Bundesliga.
The two teams have a total of 14 matches between them, with Real having twice as many wins - 6 to 3, with 5 draws and a goal difference of 24:19 in favor of The Whites. The meeting at Wembley will be emotional for some of the players. Dortmund midfielder Marco Reus will look to end his career at the Signal Iduna Park with a trophy after scoring on his Bundesliga farewell to the club against Darmstadt. On the other side, Jude Bellingham will face his former team after catching the eye of the leading European giants with the Yellow and Black team, and Toni Kroos will say goodbye to Real before finally ending his career after the Euros 2024 in Germany.
The referee of the final will be the Slovenian Slavko Vincic. Assistants will be his compatriots Tomas Klanchnik and Andras Kovacic. At VAR will be Nejc Kaitazovic, with assistants Rade Obrenovic and the Italian Massimiliano Irati. The fourth official is Francois Letexier.
Possible lineups:
Borussia Dortmund: Kobel, Ryerson, Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Maatsen, Can, Sabitzer, Adeyemi, Brandt, Sancho, Fühlkrug
Suspended: None
Real Madrid: Courtois, Carvajal, Nacho, Rudiger, Mendy, Valverde, Kroos, Camavinga, Bellingham, Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior
Suspended: None. I BGNES
