Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund Tickets

Real Madrid enter yet another edition of the UEFA Champions League and will be looking to add yet another title to their record-breaking haul. They are nearly an ever-present presence in the tournament and didn’t miss out on the competition for every campaign between 1996/97 and 2023/24.

With 14 wins to their name, double their nearest rivals in that respect (AC Milan being on seven), no doubt fans of Los Blancos will be unimpressed by anything other than a lengthy run, deep into the knockout phase, at the very least.

The Spanish capital side won the first five editions of the competition, with superstars such as Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas being key to their successes, and their haul of six wins in the first ten years of the competition set them out from the rest, but then a drought of some thirty years followed for the club.

Between their 1966 win over Partizan Belgrade and their 1998 success over Juventus, they only once reached the final, losing to Liverpool in 1981, a run that sorely tested the patience of the La Liga giants.

It is worth noting that in the intervening period, they did win back-to-back UEFA Cup trophies.

They made up for lost time by winning three times in five seasons but then waited another decade to once again dominate. Former midfield legend Zinedine Zidane took charge of the team, in his first spell, between January 2016 and May 2018, taking Real Madrid to three successive titles.

Carlo Ancelotti returned to the club in June 2021 after a less successful Zidane spell, and the Italian duly won his second title as Real Madrid boss in 2022, having done so in 2014.

Borussia Dortmund, famed for their immense support, have not been quite so successful on the European scene. They first entered the competition in 1956/57, getting knocked out by Manchester United in the First Round, and were beaten Semi-Finalists in 1963/64 but did not qualify all that many times for the competition in its European Cup era.

They have fared better in the UEFA Champions League, getting to the Quarter-Finals in their first campaign in 1995/96 before doing better the following season.

In 1996/97, under coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, they beat Manchester United in the Semi-Finals to set up a final against Juventus in Munich, a game they were not favourites to win.

They got off to a flying start, with Karl-Heinz Riedle scoring twice in the first half before Alessandro Del Piero pulled a goal back in the second half. Then sub Lars Ricken scored a stylish chip to give Borussia Dortmund the title.

They returned to the final under Jurgen Klopp in 2013 and faced German rivals Bayern Munich at Wembley, losing to a late winner from Arjen Robben. Since that point on, they’ve never ventured further than the Quarter-Finals.

Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund Head-to-Head

Up to 2023, these two teams had met in 14 UEFA Champions League games, with Real Madrid securing victory on six occasions to Borussia Dortmund’s three.

In 2012/13, they actually met on four occasions, with Dortmund getting the upper hand in both the group phase and the Semi-Finals.

Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund Connections

In terms of stars who have lined up for both Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, a few players have done so, including former Turkish international Nuri Sahin and talented Algerian international Achraf Hakimi.

The most well-known example, though, would have to come in the form of England international Jude Bellingham. As a teenager, the midfielder left Birmingham City to move to the Westfalenstadion and made a massive impression from the start.

In three seasons in Germany, Bellingham made 132 appearances and scored 24 goals to set up a massive money move to Real Madrid, where he made an instant impact.