The kings of the UEFA Champions League will go after their 15th title in the competition at Wembley Stadium in London on June 1.
Real Madrid advanced to the 2023-24 UCL final with a remarkable comeback against Bayern Munich on Wednesday to deny an all-German championship match.
Borussia Dortmund, a surprise finalist, will try to complete its European run with the second UCL title in club history.
The June 1 final will mark the first time Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund square off in the Champions League title match. It will be just the third time a Spanish and German side play each other in the tournament’s final.
UEFA Champions League Final Info
Date: Saturday, June 1
Start Time: 3 pm ET
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London
Preview
Real Madrid is known for its magical moments in the Champions League.
Los Blancos won the competition on 14 occasions and they are the only club to win multiple Champions League titles since 2015. Real Madrid earned four UCL crowns in that span and it won another in 2014.
They ran through a gauntlet in the knockout round just to reach Wembley.
Real Madrid defeated RB Leipzig, Manchester City and Bayern Munich over the course of six matches across three rounds.
Wednesday’s win over Bayern Munich to clinch a spot in the final was the most dramatic of the victories in the knockout round. Real Madrid used two goals in a four-minute span from substitute Joselu to defeat Bayern 4-3 on aggregate.
Real Madrid carries the biggest stars in the championship matchup, led by Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior, who scored the game-winning goal against Liverpool two years ago to win Real Madrid’s 14th UCL crown.
A lot of attention will be paid to midfielder Jude Bellingham as well. The English star will play the final on his home soil against the club that sold him to Real Madrid last summer.
Dortmund usually plays second fiddle to Bayern in the Bundesliga, but it carved out its own successful route to the final this season.
Dortmund survived a semifinal bout with Kylian Mbappe’s Paris Saint-Germain with some stout defending and some help from the post. PSG hit the post on a handful of occasions over 180 minutes in the semifinal.
The German side conceded one or zero goals in four of its six knockout-round matches. It defeated PSV Eindhoven, Atletico Madrid and PSG on its way to the final.
Center-back Mats Hummels, who played in Dortmund’s last UCL final at Wembley in 2013, will be vital to slowing down Vinicius, Rodrygo, Bellingham and the Real Madrid attack.
The best attacker in Dortmund’s squad, whether you consider it to be Nicklas Fullkrug or Donyell Malen, would be considered the fourth-or-fifth-best attacking threat on the field in the UCL final.
Real Madrid should win the match with its overwhelming attacking talent. Dortmund’s only path to victory is through a low-scoring battle in which it gets one or two moments to score, like it did in Tuesday’s semifinal win with a Hummels goal off a corner kick.
Prediction: Real Madrid 3, Borussia Dortmund 1
