Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid Predictions (06/01/24)

The final of the UEFA Champions League will be played this Saturday, June 1 at 3:00 p.m. in Chile at Wembley Stadium in London, the cathedral of English football between the German Borussia Dortmund and the Spanish Real Madrid.

The odds in the betting market indicate a favorable result for the Brazilian team and here at Goal.com we explain why and tell you how both teams arrive for the

2023/24 UEFA Champions League final.

Betano is our preferred agency or betting house because of its up-to-the-minute odds and because it leads, generates respect and successes in the market.

• Borussia Dortmund at home pays 5.10 for the win
• The tie at 4.10 in Betane
• Real Madrid visiting pays 1.65 to winner
• Winner at the end of the first half, 5.10 in favor of the favorite home team, 2.32 if they remain equal and for Real Madrid at 2.17 in Betane
• Goals in the match; more than 1.5 to 1.25 and less than 4.10
• Both teams to score goals; Yes to 1.72 and No to 2.05 in Betane
• The odds for the first team to score are 2.87 for Borussia Dortmund
• No goals at 10.50 and Real Madrid scoring the first goal at 1.50 in Betane

All odds courtesy of Betano, correct at time of publication and subject to change.

Continental supremacy is at stake at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night, when Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid meet in a 2023-24 UEFA Champions League final of titanic proportions.

Dortmund in a campaign that exceeds all expectations

For the modest Borussia Dortmund, victory would put an end to 27 years of suffering and would mean their second Orejona, while the meringues would try to register their name in the European Cup of Champion Clubs for the fifteenth time.

Edin Terzić’s men beat Paris Saint-Germain in the four-way final and booked their ticket to Wembley, while Carlo Ancelotti’s troops deprived their next rival of an all-German final against Bayern Munich, thanks to a exciting comeback in the second leg.

Exorcising the old demons of the Champions League under the Wembley arch is Borussia Dortmund’s goal, eleven years after helplessly watching Arjen Robben’s shot slip past Bayern Munich’s goal line in the 2012 Der Klassiker final -13 disputed in the English capital.

Club icon Marco Reus and the team’s rejuvenated leader, centre-back Mats Hummels, are the only survivors of that troop that won the silver medal (the latter’s CV also includes a spell at the Allianz Arena in between), but none of Terzić’s debut finalists will need a lecture on the importance of June 1.

Borussia Dortmund, who won the tempting Group of Death with AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle United, was a sign of things to come as they got rid of PSV Eindhoven without breaking a sweat before of a small setback in the first leg of the quarterfinals against Atlético de Madrid.

The only defeat suffered in the 2023-24 tournament at the Wanda Metropolitano did not prevent Dortmund from aspiring to European glory, as a phenomenal comeback in the second leg preceded a pair of exceptional 1-0 wins over the eternal Lady of honor, PSG, eliminated at both the Signal Iduna Park and the Parc des Princes at the beginning of May.

Thanks to their own defensive discipline and the endless waste of the Ligue 1 champions, BVB condemned PSG to another year of torture in the Champions League, as the old but golden Hummels scored the only goal of the second leg with a header , thus reserving Dortmund an appointment for the Orejona for the third time in its history.

Dortmund, champion of the Champions League in the 1996-97 season, in which Ottmar Hitzfeld beat Juventus 3-1 in Munich, has not been present in the premier event since it fell to the supremacy of Bayern in London more ago. of a decade, and Real Madrid’s exploits in the semi-finals mean that the chance for Bavarian revenge did not materialise.

Although Bayern lost their iron grip on the Bundesliga title, Terzić’s men and the rest of the division were powerless to quell the overwhelming Bayer Leverkusen, and despite demolishing SV Darmstadt 98 4-0 in their last game , Dortmund could only finish fifth.

However, thanks to Germany’s superior UEFA coefficient over all other nations except Italy, BVB will dine in Europe’s top competition next year, regardless of the result of Saturday’s final, which they also arrive in search of four consecutive Champions League victories at any stage for the first time in almost 10 years.

Dortmund’s trophy drought hasn’t been as long as their 27-year wait for Champions League title number two – they won the 2020-21 DFB-Pokal – but a Champions League winners’ medal would shine much more around the neck of Signal Iduna Park’s favorite son, Reus, before emptying his Dortmund locker.

Dortmund’s doctors are also recovering a couple of stars, such as Ramy Bensebaini (knee), Julien Duranville (muscle) and Mateu Morey (illness), although the latter was not included in the BVB squad list for the round of 16 of the Champions League.

The only question mark in the German ranks is striker Sébastien Haller, who has returned to team training after an ankle problem, but the former West Ham United player will certainly play in the background, behind Niclas Fullkrug, author of the first of Dortmund’s two goals against PSG in their semi-final duels.

Ten of the eleven starters in the second leg against the Parisians were also starters in the final matchday of the Bundesliga against Darmstadt. The only exception was Reus, who in this last match beat Julian Brandt and, of course, closed his participation in the Bundesliga with BVB with a goal.

As much as Terzić prefers Reus, the fans’ favorite to win the Champions League, the Dortmund coach cannot allow himself to be carried away by nostalgia and should reintroduce Brandt into the starting eleven.

Manchester United loanee Jadon Sancho, who made 12 sensational dribbles against PSG in the semi-final first leg, could play his last game for the club as speculation swirls over his long-term future and he looks to haunt Ferland’s nightmares. Mendy on the right wing. In the likely absence of Reus in the starting eleven, 2012-13 champion Emre Can will wear the captain’s armband.

Dortmund and Real Madrid have already met 14 times in the Champions League, and the whites lead the head-to-head table with six wins compared to BVB’s three.

Ancelotti, an old fox and favorites once again

However, as has been customary throughout his career, which has broken records in the Champions League, there will be no room for feelings for the Real Madrid coach.

Carlo Ancelotti, who already has four European Cups under his belt as a coach and who now intends to distance himself even further from his pursuers.

Of course, Real Madrid, fourteen-time champions, will say goodbye on Saturday to a revered German servant, midfield maestro Toni Kroos, who will play his last official match for his club before Euro 2024. The 34-year-old has already savored a Champions League final with Dortmund in his glory days at Bayern.

Kroos and his Real Madrid teammates did not miss a single point in the group stage against Portuguese side Braga, deposed Italian champions Napoli and Bundesliga upstart Union Berlin, although the manner in which they won 2 on aggregate -1 to their round of 16 rival, RB Leipzig, left a lot to be desired.

However, in true white style, Ancelotti’s men surprised by beating the reigning champion, Manchester City (taking revenge on their executioner in the 2022-23 semi-finals from twelve metres), before the Newcastle United fans rubbed shoulders eyes and pinch themselves in bewilderment.

After 2-2 in the first leg, a great goal from Alphonso Davies, a possible future white player, seemed to have ended Real Madrid’s dream of winning crown number 15, but Joselu, on loan from Espanyol, wrote his name in history from the Bernabéu with a double that sealed the ticket to Wembley.

Thanks to the astonishing individual efforts of the former Magpie, the iconic Real Madrid logo will appear on the cover of the Champions League final program for the 18th time on Saturday, and only three of the Whites’ 17 previous appearances in the match for the trophy have ended in disappointment.

In fact, it has been a whopping 43 years since the Spanish giants have been runners-up in the competition, and since that crushing defeat against Liverpool in 1981, Real Madrid has triumphed in each of the last eight Champions League finals. in which it has been present.

Real Madrid, current champion of the League and the Spanish Super Cup, which has concluded its regular campaign in the top category by dropping four points against Villarreal and Real Betis, should not lose sleep over those two draws.

Ancelotti’s men have gone 25 consecutive games without losing, since the defeat suffered in January in the Copa del Rey at the hands of Atlético, and have found the net in each and every one of their games away from the Bernabéu in the 2023-24 season, another good omen for the great European show on Saturday.

Conqueror of Dortmund in the 2012-13 Champions League alongside the missing Kroos, Real Madrid defender David Alaba remains confined to the infirmary due to his anterior cruciate ligament injury, which has also cut short his dreams at Euro 2024.

The Austrian international is one of two white players who will not be able to play this weekend, as Aurelien Tchouameni has not recovered in time from his foot problem, meaning that Nacho Fernández should wear the captain’s armband for one last time. time before his expected departure as well.

The rest of Ancelotti’s squad is in good condition, including former Dortmund player Jude Bellingham, but goalkeeper Andriy Lunin has contracted a very untimely flu, which has forced him to isolate himself from the rest of the team.

For fear of becoming infected, Lunin will travel to London on his own, as long as the illness disappears in time for the weekend. However, his illness facilitates Ancelotti’s decision to start a fully fit Thibaut Courtois.

Kroos, who will wear the famous white shirt for the last time, is expected to form a midfield trident with Eduardo Camavinga and Federico Valverde without Luka Modric, but Joselu’s exploits in the semi-finals should not be enough to break the Brazilian pairing of Rodrygo and Vinicius Júnior up front.

The most recent of Real Madrid’s successes came in a pair of clashes in the group stage of the 2017-18 season, while Dortmund have not won since a 2-0 defeat in the 2013 quarter-final second leg. -14, and even that was inconsequential due to the whites’ 3-0 defeat in the first leg.

First meeting between both in a final

However, the stakes have never been higher between Saturday’s Wembley hopefuls, who have met in two semi-finals in 1997-98 (won by Real) and 2012-13 (won by Dortmund), but have never met. with the trophy ready and waiting for the winner.

Prediction: Borussia Dortmund 0-1 Real Madrid