Sports Mole takes a closer look at Borussia Dortmund’s record in the European Cup/Champions League final ahead of Saturday’s showdown with Real Madrid at Wembley Stadium.
Borussia Dortmund travel to Wembley Stadium to test their mettle against 14-time European winners Real Madrid in the Champions League final on Saturday night.
Edin Terzic‘s side defied the odds to top the ‘Group of Death’ – finishing first in Group F ahead of Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Newcastle – before battling past PSV Eindhoven, Atletico Madrid and PSG in the knockout rounds, defeating the latter 2-0 on aggregate in the semi-finals.
BVB are now gearing up for arguably their biggest game in a decade and their 15th meeting with Real Madrid, with the Bundesliga club bidding to become just the second German team to win Europe’s most prestigious club competition more than once.
Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at Borussia Dortmund’s record in the European Cup/Champions League final ahead of Saturday’s showdown in London.
© Reuters
Excluding Saturday’s contest, Borussia Dortmund have only reached five semi-finals and two finals since the inception of Europe’s premier club competition back in 1955.
Thirty-three years after progressing to their first-ever European Cup semi-final, Dortmund made it all the way to their first-ever Champions League final in the 1996-97 campaign, held on German soil at the Olympiastadion in Munich.
BVB beat Auxerre and Manchester United in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively to set up a memorable showpiece with Italian giants Juventus, the side that thrashed them 6-1 on aggregate in the UEFA Cup final just four years earlier.
Ottmar Hitzfeld‘s men got their revenge in the Champions League, though, as a first-half brace from Karl-Heinz Riedle as well as a second-half strike from substitute Lars Ricken helped Dortmund win 3-1, becoming the first German team to win the competition since the country’s reunification in 1990.
© Reuters
Dortmund were unable to retain their European crown as they were knocked out in the semi-finals by Real Madrid the following year, before they failed to qualify for 12 of the next 13 editions of the Champions League.
Jurgen Klopp eventually steered the club back into Europe’s elite club competition after winning back-to-back Bundesliga titles. A year after being eliminated in the group stage, BVB reached the 2012-13 final after topping their group ahead of Real Madrid, Ajax and Manchester City, before beating Shakhtar Donetsk, Malaga and Real Madrid in the knockout rounds.
Standing in their way of glory was a familiar foe in the form of Bayern Munich, and it was the Bavarians who prevailed in the first all-German Champions League final. Ilkay Gundogan‘s second-half penalty cancelled out an opener from Mario Mandzukic, but Arjen Robben scored the decisive goal to seal a 2-1 victory for Bayern.
Dortmund will return to Wembley 11 years on for their third appearance in the Champions League final this weekend and they are tasked with coming out on top against a Real Madrid outfit whom they have beaten in just three of their previous 14 meetings.
No Data Analysis info