Against all odds, Borussia Dortmund made it to the third Champions League Final in their history. A side that many gawked at, an imposter among the elite teams of the final 8, something the Dortmund players have not forgotten.
But standing in their way is the undisputed king of Europe’s elite competition, Real Madrid. The record Champions League winners have won the ‘big ears’ 14 times, double that of second place AC Milan, who have 7 European Cups in their trophy cabinet.
The records for the Champions League are essentially a history of Real Madrid, a comprehensive guide to their status as the premier football club in the world. Nearly every category has their name or someone who once played for them. They were the first side to win back-to-back Champions League in 2017, and even then, they went on to get a third on the trot in 2018.
The top goalscorer in Champions League history is Cristiano Ronaldo, the bulk of which came during his nine-year stay in the Spanish capital. The man he took the record off was the man he inherited the famous Real Madrid number 7 shirt from, Raul. Raul himself took that record from Real legend Alfredo Di Stéfano in 2005.
Despite the seeming inevitability of the final this Saturday night at Wembley Stadium in London, Dortmund has been here before—as the underdog winner and loser and both times marked the end of an era, as does this one.
‘Munich shines black and yellow’
Embed from Getty ImagesBorussia Dortmund’s first, and only for now at least, Champions League triumph came in 1997. It is probably the biggest upset in Champions League final history since its inception in 1992. In the mid-1990s, Dortmund was the team to beat in Germany, winning back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 1995 and 1996.
To reach the final, they blasted French side Auxerre in the quarter-finals. They barely squeaked by an Eric Cantona-led Manchester United side in the semi-finals, winning 2-0 on aggregate thanks to two deflected goals.
Awaiting Ottmar Hitzfeld’s side in the final in Munich was ‘the best team in the world’ at the time, Juventus. They were the reigning Champions League winners, having defeated Ajax via penalties a year previous in Rome.
The two had previous experience with each other in European competitions in the 90s, usually a painful one for BVB. Juve blasted Dortmund 6-1 over two legs in the 1993 UEFA Cup Final and knocked them out of the same competition in 1995 at the semi-final stage.
Many saw the game as a formality. Juventus boasted names like Zinedine Zidane, Alessandro Del Piero (who did start on the bench in the final due to injury), Didier Deschamps, Christian Vieri, and Angelo Peruzzi. They were also probably the European powerhouse of the mid-90s. For a four-season span from 94-95 to 97-98, Juventus were consecutively in a European trophy final, including three consecutive UCL finals from 1996 to 1998.
But as we all know, none of that mattered. Dortmund shot a 2-0 lead at the half thanks to a double from Karl-Heinz Riedle.
Del Piero would come off the bench and score a delicious backheel goal to bring the Old Lady back into it with 25 minutes left.
Embed from Getty ImagesEnter local lad Lars Ricken. He came on for injured hero Riedle and immediately scored perhaps the most underrated or underappreciated goal in a Champions League final, an audacious chip of Peruzzi on the counter from nigh-on 30 yards out. The trophy was theirs. In their first European Cup final, Dortmund triumphed convincingly against all odds.
The Borussia Dortmund team would look wildly different a year after the remarkable triumph. Gone was their captain and the Ballon d’Or winner in 1996, Matthias Sammer, who retired in 1998 due to injury. He played only 6 more games for Dortmund after the 1997 Champions League final. Riedle left for Liverpool in the summer of 1997, unfortunately joining the club as a prodigious Michael Owen shot to stardom. Scottish midfielder Paul Lambert, the architect of Rielde’s opening goal, also returned to his homeland to join Celtic that summer.
The team was ripped apart. Dortmund’s dominance of the mid-90s broke off in the hangover of that night in Munich in May 1997. BVB finished tenth in the Bundesliga in 1997-1998.
Heartbreak in the home of football
Embed from Getty ImagesBVB’s second Champions League final was less euphoric than 16 years earlier. In the years leading up to their appearance in the 2013 final, Dortmund had won back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012 (a domestic double in 2012, to be exact) under Jurgen Klopp’s stewardship.
Borussia Dortmund is almost an all-star team of iconic footballing legends of the past decade. Lewandowski up top, Reus on the flanks, Gündoğan manning the middle, Hummels anchoring the defensive line.
It was an all-German affair at Wembley, as Bayern Munich, hunting a historic treble, were their opponents. They were a team that suffered the ultimate heartbreak the year before, losing the 2012 Champions League final to Chelsea in their stadium on penalties. They vengefully humiliated Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate in the semi-finals.
It was a frantically entertaining game. Borussia Dortmund opened the better of the two sides, unleashing shots at Neuer, who was typically like a wall in the Bayern goal. Soon, Bayern grew into the game, but it was an entertaining stalemate at halftime, a showcase almost for Neuer and Weidenfeller, who were playing superbly.
Embed from Getty ImagesIn this game, Arjen Robben was simply unstoppable. He was at the heart of every good Bayern move. And it proved dividends as he squeezed a tight square pass to Mandžukić, who tapped home to give Bayern the lead after an hour of play.
Borussia Dortmund weren’t out of it for long. In his debut season for the club, Reus was gut-checked by already yellow-carded Dante. Penalty to BVB. The question was, would he be sent off? The answer was no, to which Gary Neville, on comms for the game, said the referee had ‘bottled it’.
Anyway, the ever-clutch İlkay Gündoğan converts the penalty. With the score at 1-1, it is all to play for in the final 20 minutes.
But just like all games, Borussia Dortmund struggled with the mercurial Robben. It was he who sank a dagger into the Yellow Wall’s heart. On 89 minutes, Robben latched onto a backheel from Ribery, emerged from an onslaught of BVB tackles and rolled the ball past Weidenfeller. For the Dortmund fans situated on the other half of Wembley, that couple of seconds it took for the ball to roll into the net must have been filled with utter despair. Bedlam is behind the goal, however.
Embed from Getty ImagesBayern won it with a German treble, which also sparked an 11-year reign of terror in the Bundesliga. Bayern famously pillaged the Dortmund team that made the final. By 2016, Lewandowski, Hummels, and Götze were all playing in Bavaria. Klopp left in 2015 after a dismal 7th-place finish in the Bundesliga.
11 years of disappointment
Embed from Getty ImagesOf course, in the face of those excellent Bayern teams that have hoovered up the Bundesliga for the past 11 years, it may be harsh to expect too much from BVB. After all, they have been run for a while now like a selling club, a feeder team to the elite. The sales of Haaland, Bellingham, Hummels and Sancho in years gone by are a testament to this.
Borussia Dortmund became Bayern’s perennial whipping boy. Since the beginning of the 2013-2014 Bundesliga season, Dortmund has only beaten Bayern four times in 22 league meetings. A couple of times, Dortmund came close to ending Bayern’s record run. Last season, Musiala’s goal away to Köln gave Bayern the title after Dortmund choked to a 2-2 draw at home to Mainz.
There was a point where Der Klassiker was already a formality before kick-off. It was 5 years between BVB’s third and fourth victories over Bayern from November 2018 to this March’s spectacular triumph, 0-2. That game at the Allianz earlier this Spring was their first victory away to Bayern for 10 years.
Sprinkle in a couple of DFB Pokal trophies in 2017 and 2021, which is the extent of the success of Dortmund since 2013. But this Saturday night could bring down every ‘disappointing Dortmund’ narrative.
The end of an era, once again
Embed from Getty ImagesThis BVB team feels like the end of an era for the club. Club legend Marco Reus recently announced his departure at the end of the season after 12 years with the club. It feels incredibly fitting that his final game will be the Champions League Final at Wembley—the same game and venue that heartbreakingly ended his first season at the club.
The 35-year-old sits second behind Alfred Priessler as Dortmund’s all-time scorer by only 7 goals, something which, sadly, he will not be able to break. But what a chance for Dortmund to send off their former club captain of 6 years in style in the same venue where he experienced his biggest footballing heartbreak 11 years ago. It is poetic.
Hummels’ last hurrah?
Embed from Getty ImagesReus is not the only legend and returning member from that 2013 final. Mats Hummels, who ranks second in all-time appearances for Dortmund over his two stints at the club with 507, has been impervious in the knockout rounds of the Champions League. He has been man of the match in three games this campaign, with two coming in the Semi-Final first and second legs against PSG. His partnership with Nico Schlotterbeck represents the yellow wall that Dortmund’s defence has become.
The second leg, in particular, was a defensive masterclass from Hummels, now 35 years old. Dortmund did ride their luck in that game, too, with PSG cracking the frame of the goal a staggering four times. But Hummels also booked their ticket to Wembley with a header that breached the Parisians’ goal from a corner from another key performer, Julian Brandt. His seven tackles and interceptions that game were a game-high.
This season, he averages 6.08 tackles and interceptions per 90 in the UCL. It is a defensive campaign to be remembered by the now veteran. If they lift the trophy, the biggest thanks will have to go to him, especially if he can successfully deal with Real Madrid’s incredible attack. With rumours of Hummels also departing BVB this summer, the potentially fairytale end to his Dortmund career can be undisputedly likened to the performances of Matthias Sammer in 1997.
influential loanees
Embed from Getty ImagesIt is not only the ‘old guard’ who could define this end of an era; a couple of crucial loanees will return to their parent clubs. Jadon Sancho, ostracised from Manchester United earlier this season, returned to the Westfalenstadion and looked at home again. His performances against PSV and PSG, where he recorded a season-high 12 completed dribbles in their first-leg fixtures, showed that his creative and progressive capabilities allow Dortmund to click in attack.
Chelsea loanee Ian Maatsen has also proved himself to be perhaps the left back of the knockout rounds. It makes you wonder why Chelsea let him go; he has elite talent. Both are scheduled to return to England following the final, so even if Dortmund triumph this Saturday, next season’s squad could look vastly different.
But what a story that would be. If anyone can knock Real Madrid off their perch, it would be Der BVB. No matter what happens at Wembley, this team and run will never be forgotten in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Image Credit: Deposit Photos
