WHATEVER happened to Champions League finals?

Time was when 3-1s and 4-1s were commonplace, entertaining contests lit up by wonder-strikes and world class players putting in world class performances.

Now each and every year we endure as much as enjoy a constrained, forgettable encounter that leaves us struggling to recall anything other than the goal ten minutes after the final whistle.

The last four finals have finished 1-0 and frankly, we deserve better than that when the game is accompanied by so much hype and preceded by operatic bluster. After all, barring the odd exception since the tournament was remodeled in 1992, this is a marquee match-up that features two of the best sides on the continent, with special players capable of doing special things.

We’ve been deprived four times over of what could have been.

Perhaps this final then is the one that atones, it being awash with fabulous talent, most of whom head to Wembley on the back of stand-out seasons.

Julian Brandt has averaged 2.5 key passes per 90 for Dortmund this term and assisted 12 times, his best creative return in the Bundesliga for five campaigns. A clever attacking midfielder who thrives in the half-spaces, should he be frequently found then Die Schwarzgelben have their best chance of upsetting the odds this weekend.

Then there’s Jadon Sancho, who refused to bloom in the Old Trafford shade but is flowering once again in Germany. The winger’s mesmeric display in Dortmund’s semi-final first-leg win over PSG was one for the ages, with 12 completed take-ons and three chances created.

Even a faint facsimile of that on Saturday will keep Ferland Mendy firmly at home which in turn isolates Vinicius Jr down the other end.

Up front, it falls on Niclas Fullkrug to score the goals and win the aerial duels. A goal involvement every 135 minutes in 2023/24 makes a mockery of his €13m fee last summer.

 

Across the divide there is of course Jude Bellingham, the obvious place to start when highlighting Real Madrid’s superiority in this clash given his ridiculous debut season in La Liga. Facing his former club here, it’s no exaggeration to state that if the 20-year-old megastar-in-the-making puts in an eight out of ten performance then Los Blancos win their 15^th European Cup/Champions League comfortably.

In terms of natural ability and the ability to influence proceedings, England’s greatest hope for a generation is a level above every player on the pitch.

That assessment includes Toni Kroos though it feels a touch sacrilegious to say so. For a decade-and-a-half, give or take, the German midfielder has knitted lovely patterns of play, inspiring Real to multiple league and Champions League titles, but this will be his final ever club outing. His match-up with Brandt, his international team-mate, will be a fascinating one, while his propensity to air-drop the perfect ball into space for Vinicius Jr to hare onto makes up a big part of Real’s counter-attacking threat.

The 34-year-old averaged 9.8 accurate long balls this season. That’s quarter-backing off the scale and is miles more than anyone else in Spain.

And speaking of Vinicius Jr, a player who has already notched a Champions League final winner having broken Liverpool’s hearts two years ago, what kind of impact will he have?

 

So many of Real’s offensive forays come down their left and it’s maybe pertinent that six of the last eight goals Dortmund have conceded have derived from cut-backs and low crosses.  

The Brazilian is almost certain to be a pivotal figure.

 

Indeed, it could be said that Dortmund’s defence has been susceptible to all manner of assaults in the latter half of 2023/24, a campaign that saw them finish fifth, their lowest league placing for nine years.

Granted, Hummels and co put on a brace of defensive masterclasses in the semis, but in the league just three clean sheets since early February speaks volumes, with Hoffenheim, Leipzig, and Mainz putting three-plus past them in that time too.

In that same period, nearly a third of Real’s goals have been converted inside the opening 25 minutes.

 

Which lets the cat out of the bag regarding where this preview lands ahead of what is hoped to be an enthralling showpiece event, an antidote to four previous damp squibs.

It’s Real. For all that Dortmund are the sentimental choice, seeking to put right their Champions League final loss in 2013 at the same venue.

It’s Real who kept clean sheets in 55% of their league commitments this season while bagging 127 goals across all comps.

It’s Real who have the pedigree and know-how, winning each of their last eight Champions League finals. Mirroring this, Carlo Ancelotti is a walking, talking encyclopedia in how to navigate this esteemed fixture. If something isn’t working he will simply raise an arched brow, stay collected, and fix it.

And it’s Real that has Bellingham, a future Ballon d’Or winner who has made a mere 217 professional appearances, yet already it’s become a hoary cliché to call him a Rolls Royce.

Either he will dominate a creaking Dortmund rearguard, or distract the opposition sufficiently to allow Vinicious or Rodrygo to do likewise.

We’re due a decent final, so let’s root for the Germans to get some blows in. But if 30 years of this competition, and it’s grand finale, has taught us anything it’s that underdogs so very rarely prevail. And Real Madrid always win.

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STE’S TREBLE

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A match that stops the world! Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid go toe-to-toe to be crowned Champions of Europe. History awaits, but who takes the glory in London?

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