Champions League Final Preview
The ultimate European glory will be decided this weekend, as Real Madrid face Borussia Dortmund at Wembley on Saturday night!
After adding yet another La Liga trophy to their cabinet to close the 2023/2024 domestic season, Real Madrid have their eyes set on winning their 7th Champions League trophy. The Los Blancos dominated La Liga this season, finishing the season with 10 points above Barcelona in 2nd, and have carried the same dominant form into the Champions League. Ancelotti`s outfit finished 1st in Group C, winning all 6 games, and in the knockouts, they`ve sunk RB Leipzig, the English giants Manchester City and the German giants Bayern Munich – they are yet to lose a single game in this season's European competition. To further boost Madrid`s chances here, they`ve gone 25 games unbeaten in all competitions. The 2 sides have met on several occasions and looking at their 10 meetings paints the following picture: 4 wins to Real, 3 wins to BVB, and 3 draws. However, their most recent encounters ended in 3-2 and 3-1, both in Madrid`s favour.
With nothing to show for in the trophy cabinet this season, the Champions League final is Dortmund`s last hope of any silverware this season. BVB had quite an underwhelming season, finishing 5th in the Bundesliga, and dropping out of the DFB Pokal in the Round of 16. Still, the Dortmund outfit has something to be proud of in the Champions League – they finished 1st in Group F and got past PSV in the Round of 16, Atletico Madrid in the quarterfinals, and shocked the world by knocking out PSG in the semifinals, and even keeping a clean sheet. Although they`ve been poor domestically, they`ve put on some impressive performances in the Champions League, hence why it is certainly unfair to rule them out against the Spanish giants. Looking at the 2 sides` forms but are capable of scoring and are both also leaky in defence. Although Real Madrid are the favourites for many, we think this game can still go either way, as Dortmund surprised many pundits with the performance against PSG. Therefore, we expect this to be an exciting and end-to-end game, with over 2.5 goals and both teams to score.