Champions League Final – Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund
Place: Wembley Stadium, London Date: Saturday June 1st To start up: 8:00 p.m. BST
Blanket: Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live, iPlayer and the BBC Sport website; follow live text commentary on the BBC Sport website.
Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti says his players will feel the “fear” of the Champions League final when they face Borussia Dortmund at Wembley.
The 14-time winners of the competition will start Saturday’s encounter (8:00 p.m. BST) as heavy favorites against the German side who finished fifth in the Bundesliga this season.
However, Ancelotti, the competition’s most successful coach with four titles, knows nothing is guaranteed.
“A Champions League final is the most important and dangerous match,” Ancelotti said.
“You have to have a bit of luck, play well and never let your guard down, but when you reach a final success, you are so close that you start to worry.”
Unlike Dortmund, who struggled domestically but excelled in Europe, the opposite was true for the Spanish champions in the latter stages of the tournament.
Real beat holders Manchester City on penalties in the round of 16 and scored two late goals in the second leg of their semi-final to edge past Bayern Munich.
“It’s a double-edged sword, we have to make the most of it, and then start to worry that it could go wrong because we are so close to the most important thing in football,” Ancelotti added on Friday.
“It’s going to start tonight, tomorrow morning, tomorrow afternoon. A lot of fear, that’s normal. If you have more fear, you’ll be happier if you manage to win in the end.”
For his part, Dortmund midfielder Julian Brandt has no illusions about the scale of the task awaiting his team against Real.
“They are the ultimate opponent, there is nothing bigger in the Champions League, with their success and their history,” Brandt said.
“But if we don’t believe in it, we could stay in Dortmund.”
Courtois to kick off as quartet aim to make history
Real enters this flagship match supported by the presence of Belgian international Thibaut Courtois, whom Ancelotti confirmed will start in goal in place of the ill Andriy Lunin.
And if the Spaniards win for the sixth time in 11 years, Real quartet Luka Modric, Dani Carvajal, Toni Kroos and Nacho would all be in contention for a record sixth medal.
Only Francisco Gento between 1956 and 1966 (at Real Madrid) achieved this feat.
“Everyone says we are favorites, but it’s not like that, I see 50-50,” Modric said.
“Dortmund are a great club, they had a great season in the Champions League and they are going to make it very difficult for us.”
Dortmund enter the competition in a similar atmosphere to that of 1997, where they were also big underdogs before beating Juventus 3-1 in the final in Munich.
Head coach Edin Terzic said: “We are happy to be here, but we are here to win.
“We don’t come here to play a final, we come here to win it. We want to keep this trophy in our hands.”
Bellingham vs. Sancho and Bynoe-Gittens
Image source, Getty Images
Both teams feature a high-profile English player who was central to their journey to the Champions League final.
Jude Bellingham takes on Dortmund, the team he left for the Bernabeu last summer for an initial fee of £88.5million, in the biggest game of an already impressive career.
Expectations were high for the 20-year-old England midfielder, but he exceeded them all and is expected to finish the season as Real’s top scorer with 23 goals.
This tally includes two separate last-minute Clasico winners in the two league matches against Barcelona.
He was named La Liga Player of the Season and won the 2024 Laureus World Sports Breakthrough of the Year award across all sports.
Jadon Sancho’s season has been less sensational, but considering the start of the campaign it is nonetheless remarkable.
The winger, who is not part of Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 plans, had not played for Manchester United since August 26 after being sent off by Erik ten Hag following an argument – until he joined Dortmund on loan in January.
Sancho appears to be reborn at the club he represented from 2017 to 2021.
He excelled in several matches, notably in the semi-final first leg against Paris St-Germain with 12 successful dribbles – the most of any player in a Champions League match this season.
Sancho is not the only England winger at Dortmund, however, with England Under-21 international Jamie Bynoe-Gittens having played 33 times this season. He scored against AC Milan in the group stage.
Reus leads players in search of the perfect farewell
Assuming Marco Reus takes the field at Wembley, it will be his 429th and final appearance for his hometown club.
The Dortmund legend, who turned 35 on Friday, came through the academy and played at Rot Weiss Ahlen and Borussia Mönchengladbach before returning home in 2012.
Two German Cups are all he has to show for his 12 years of service and 170 goals, which places him second all-time scorers.
He has already confirmed that he will leave the club this summer.
He was part of the Dortmund team that lost their last Champions League final, also at Wembley, to Bayern Munich in 2013.
Only three players have made more appearances for Dortmund than for Reus – and one of them is his teammate in both Champions League finals, centre-back Mats Hummels.
Hummels, who also played for Bayern Munich, said he would only decide on his future after the match.
The 35-year-old has played 507 times for the club who he first represented in January 2008.
Another German player set to play an emotional final for his club is Real midfielder Kroos.
The 34-year-old will retire from football after Euro 2024, so this is his last club game.
Kroos has made 464 appearances for Real since arriving from Bayern Munich in 2014 and has won four Champions Leagues, four La Liga titles and one Copa del Rey with the club.
Two other players whose future is uncertain at the Bernabeu are Modric, 38, out of contract, and Spanish defender Nacho, 34.
Croatian Modric, the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner, made 533 appearances for Real following his move from Tottenham in 2012, while one-club Nacho made 363 appearances and was widely used as a player team.