The men’s UEFA Champions League final is the most watched annual sporting event on the planet. Around 450 million football fans are expected to tune in on Saturday as record winners Real Madrid face Borussia Dortmund — a team even their own supporters never expected to get this far.
The contrast between the 14-times champions Madrid and a Dortmund team who have won it just once — back in 1997 — extends to the coaches. Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti, 64, has lifted the famous trophy twice as a player and four times as a manager. He has coached fellow European heavyweights such as Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Chelsea, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain.
Dortmund coach Edin Terzic meanwhile has only ever managed the Germans and his only trophy is the German Cup in 2021. The 41-year-old previously made a modest impression as a player in the German lower leagues.
Ancelotti may beat Terzic when it comes to experience, but he still gets nervous.
“The cold sweat and fear will arrive on Saturday afternoon. This is quite normal, it is always like that in this kind of matches,” he told reporters.
“(But) I have experience. My team gives me a lot of confidence… because I see them focused on the match. They are in Champions League-mode.”
Madrid last won the trophy in 2022 when they beat Liverpool 1-0 in the final, Vinicius Junior scoring the winner. The Brazil international will again be a key player for the recently crowned Spanish champions, who won La Liga and reached the Champions League final this season despite not really boasting a starting number nine.
After the departure of Karim Benzema to Saudi Arabia last year and the expected arrival of France star Kylian Mbappe from PSG this July, Madrid decided to risk the season with wingers Vinicius and Rodrygo as the main forwards — with loan signing Joselu offering height and muscle when they desperately needed goals.
The Spanish forward promptly obliged with two late goals in the dramatic Champions League semifinal victory over Bayern, but whether he starts on Saturday remains to be seen.
Best performances
Dortmund, in contrast, play very much with a number nine. Germany’s Niclas Füllkrug has had a mixed first season at the Black and Yellows as they finished fifth in the Bundesliga. But he has scored crucial goals in Europe, including in the semifinal win over PSG, as Dortmund saved their best performances for Europe’s premier club tournament.
Coach Terzic said: “I am firmly convinced that anything is possible in a single match. And if anyone has shown that you can achieve a lot in one match, it is us, especially this season, especially in this competition.
“I think Madrid have been in the Champions League final eight times and they’ve never lost. But the important thing is not what happened in the last eight finals, but what happens in the next one. And we are responsible for that.”
Kroos and Reus farewells
It is not just in the dugout and in forward areas where the two teams look different. But they both have one thing in common on Saturday — they will be saying goodbye to German veterans who have been the heart and soul of their clubs for years.
Midfielder Toni Kroos is retiring from football after Germany’s run at the home European Championship from June 14. This Saturday is therefore his final game for Madrid and in club football after already totting up five Champions League titles.
Dortmund playmaker Marco Reus, meanwhile, is leaving after Saturday’s showpiece following 12 years with his hometown club. He is not guaranteed to start but it would be an almighty leaving present to gift his side their second Champions League triumph. Reus played the last time Dortmund reached the final, in 2013, when they lost to arch-rivals Bayern Munich on the same Wembley pitch they will enter on Saturday.
“There are worse ways to complete your career at a club than to start with a Champions League final in 2013 and end it with a Champions League final in 2024,” Reus said.
Edited by: James Thorogood
