Sunday 24 / November / 2024
London: Nacho Fernandez-led Real Madrid will eye their 15th UEFA Champions League (UCL) title against Emre Can's Borussia Dortmund in the final match of the marquee event at the iconic Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.
Both teams have faced each other 10 times in the European championship, where the Los Blancos have clinched four victories and Dortmund won three. While in the rest of the three matches, both teams had to share points.
The last time they faced each other was in the group stage match of the UCL in 2017 when Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid thrashed the Black and Yellow 3-2 with the help of Borja Mayoral, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lucas Vazquez's goals.
However, times have changed now and many old guards have left the Los Merengues, but the Madrid-based club did not lose its royalty. Many people questioned how the club would sustain itself without Karim Benzema, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos and other stars but under the guidance of Carlo Ancelotti the 14-time UCL winner proved everyone wrong.
In the knockout stage of the ongoing UCL, only a few believed that Real Madrid could make their place in the final stage of the iconic tournament. In the quarter-final, Real faced Manchester City and in the first leg, the Whites had to draw with a 3-3 scoreline on their home turf. In the second leg, City dominated the game but the Los Blancos showed their comeback nature and won the match from an intense penalty shootout.
In the semi-final, Ancelotti's men locked horns with Bayern Munich. In the first leg, the Whites had to end the game with a 2-2 draw. While in the second leg, Joselu shattered Bayern Munich's dreams and powered Real to the final of the league.
The Los Blancos are in their red-hot form currently as they are unbeaten in their previous five matches in all competitions. In La Liga, Real finished the league with 95 points from 38 matches. Jude Bellingham's presence helped the Whites a lot as he is the top scorer for Real with 19 goals. Brazilian superstar Vinicius Junior finished with 15 goals and five assists.
The presence of Bellingham, Vinicius, Rodrygo, and Joselu will help Real's forward line in the final match.
Meanwhile, German maestro Toni Kroos played the last game of his La Liga career with Real Madrid as he announced his retirement from football after the end of the upcoming EURO 2024. Kroos won four UCL titles with Los Merengues and is looking forward to adding another to the list.
With Rudiger and Nacho in the central defence, the Kings of Europe have displayed a rock-solid performance in all competitions. Ancelotti's men ended the La Liga 2023-24 season with 21 clean sheets, which is now their best-ever record in a single campaign in the competition.
On the other hand, Dortmund lost one match in their previous five games and are coming into this match after beating SV Darmstadt 4-0 in their final Bundesliga match of the season. They ended the season in fifth place in the standings with 63 points after winning 18 of 34 matches. They would be looking to win the final match to give a special tribute to their former skipper Marco Reus, who has decided to leave the club after 12 years.
It's quite evident that it will be a high-voltage match and even though Real Madrid will get the upper hand on the match from the very first moment of the game it will be hard to predict who will be the winner. (ANI)
