Key events
Real Madrid don’t hang about. They’ve already announced their starting XI. Thibaut Courtois starts only his fifth match of the season and his first in the Champions League since Manchester City whistled four goals past his lugs in the semis at the Etihad last May. His deputy Andriy Lunin has recovered from flu and takes a place on the bench. Toni Kroos will play his 153rd and final Champions League game for Real Madrid.
Preamble
It’s the 69th European Cup / Champions League final! Real Madrid have been involved in 17 of the previous stagings, winning 14 of them, last losing one in 1981, nine appearances ago. It’s not a point that desperately needs making, but let’s say it anyway: los Merengues are rather good at this.
Borussia Dortmund on the other hand have a more grounded record of one from two. BVB lifted this trophy in 1997; they lost on their other final appearance, here at Wembley, in 2013. They’re very much the underdogs tonight, and not just for all those historical, date-stamped reasons: Real are the new Spanish champions while Dortmund finished a disappointing fifth in the Bundesliga; Real boast Vinícius Júnior, Toni Kroos, Jude Bellingham, Luka Modrić plus The Wall in goal; Real are Real, who always find a way to get it done.
But then Dortmund were underdogs against Juventus back in ‘97, and they comfortably won that. So there’s some precedent in their favour, too. Throw in the staunch way in which they saw off Atletico Madrid and PSG in earlier rounds, plus the narrative purity of their return to Wembley and a last hurrah for 2013 veterans Marco Reus and Mats Hummels, and perhaps there’s just something in the air this year. All of which is a long-winded way to say that this is set up deliciously: the kings of European football versus a club that revels in the role of underdog, facing off in the biggest club match of the season. Kick-off at Wembley is at 8pm BST. It’s on!
