It was a tough contest for Real Madrid against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium, but they found a way in the Champions League final, as they always do. Check out the key facts and stats with our Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid stats page.
Real Madrid were made to sweat by Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final but rode the storm to win the game in the second half thanks to goals from Dani Carvajal and Vinícius Júnior.
Dortmund had the better of the first half at Wembley but couldn’t find a way past Thibaut Courtois, and Madrid’s knowhow told in the second period as they clinched their 15th European Cup/Champions League crown, more than twice as many as any other club.
Carvajal headed in a corner with 16 minutes remaining to break the deadlock, before Vinícius finished things off after a mistake from Dortmund left-back Ian Maatsen.
It completed a La Liga and Champions League double for Carlo Ancelotti’s men, who also said goodbye to Toni Kroos in his final club game before retirement, and he of course marked the occasion by assisting the opener.
A typically tentative start to the final did finally see Dortmund carve out the first chance in the 14th minute when Niclas Füllkrug found a late run into the box of Julian Brandt, but he fired wide.
Dortmund really should have been ahead in the 21st minute when Mats Hummels played a through ball to the lightning-fast Karim Adeyemi, who rounded Courtois but forced himself too wide and saw his attempt blocked for a corner by Carvajal.
The pressure continued from BVB as Füllkrug ran onto a ball from Maatsen and hit the inside of Courtois’ left post, though replays suggested the striker may have been offside. Adeyemi ran through again soon after and had a shot saved by Courtois, while Füllkrug just couldn’t get his head behind the rebound.
After half an hour at Wembley, Dortmund had seen just 30% of the ball but had attempted seven shots to Madrid’s two as Ancelotti’s side rode their luck in the first half.
Edin Terzic’s men produced 1.68 expected goals (xG) in the opening period, the biggest by a team in the first half of a Champions League final on record (since 2013-14). On top of that, Madrid were the first team to fail to register in a single shot on target in the first 45 minutes of a Champions League final since Tottenham against Liverpool in 2019. Their two shots were Los Blancos’ joint-fewest in the opening half of a game across all competitions this season.
They went in level at the break with the Bundesliga side well on top. If we have learned nothing about Real Madrid in the Champions League over the years, though, it is that they are inevitable.
In the final club game of Kroos’ career, his first notable contribution was to force a save from Kobel from a free-kick early in the second half.
The La Liga champions had stemmed the flow of Dortmund chances but weren’t creating much themselves. Carvajal had a volley at the far post well blocked in the 57th minute but there was little sign that they could hurt Dortmund, not even Jude Bellingham.
While taking on his former side in his home country, Bellingham (20y 338d) became the third-youngest player to start a Champions League final for Real Madrid, after Iker Casillas in 2000 (19y 4d) and Raúl in 1998 (20y 327d). He also became the third-youngest English player to do so with any team after Trent Alexander-Arnold in 2018 (19y 231d) and Owen Hargreaves in 2001 (20y 123d).
Dortmund were the first side to feature exclusively European players in a Champions League final since Dortmund themselves in 2012-13 against Bayern Munich.
Their first real chance of the second half fell to Füllkrug, whose header from an Adeyemi cross had power but couldn’t beat Courtois at his near post.
Marco Reus came off the bench for his final appearance for Dortmund after 12 years of service, but it wasn’t the welcome to the game the 35-year-old would have wanted as the inevitability of Madrid finally arrived.
In the 74th minute, a perfectly-aimed inswinging corner from Kroos found Carvajal, who escaped his marker and glanced his near-post header in to give Ancelotti’s men what felt like an undeserved lead.
Madrid dominated from there, though, and Bellingham almost made it 2-0 soon after but Nico Schlotterbeck made a vital last-gasp challenge to divert the ball wide, while Eduardo Camavinga nearly bent an effort into the top corner from range only for Kobel to tip it over.
The lead was doubled with eight minutes of normal time remaining, though, as Maatsen gave the ball away to Bellingham, and he fed Vinícius to finish across Kobel into the far corner.
Dortmund fans thought their team had given them hope late on when Füllkrug headed in Donyell Malen’s cross, but it was ruled out for offside.
Madrid closed the game out to add yet another Champions League to their collection, and in the process, went unbeaten across a European Cup/Champions League season for the first time in their history (P13 W9 D4). They became just the second Spanish team to win the trophy without losing a single game in that campaign, along with Barcelona in 2005-06 (P13 W9 D4).
For Dortmund it was yet more agony at Wembley, having been beaten there by Bayern 11 years prior. They could be proud of their efforts, but in the end like so many before them, they succumbed to the inevitability of Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid Timeline
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid stats from the Champions League final at Wembley Stadium.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own post-match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid Post-Match Facts
- Carlo Ancelotti has won the European Cup/Champions League more times than any other manager (5), with three of those coming in charge of Real Madrid. This is also the joint-most for a manager in charge of a specific team, along with Bob Paisley at Liverpool (3) and Zinedine Zidane, also at Madrid (3).
- Borussia Dortmund have only won one of their last five finals in major European competition (3-1 v Juventus in the 1997 Champions League), and have now lost each of their last three in a row (v Feyenoord in 2002, Bayern Munich in 2013 and Real Madrid in 2024).
- This was the sixth winning campaign for Madrid quadruple Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Dani Carvajal and Nacho in the Champions League, taking them level with Paco Gento (6) as the players who have won the European Cup/Champions League the most times in history.
- Vinícius Júnior has been directly involved in 22 goals in the knockout stages of the Champions League (11 goals, 11 assists); the joint-most by any player before turning 24, along with Lionel Messi.
- Dani Carvajal scored just the second goal of his Champions League career, with tonight being his 89th such appearance. He was the first defender to score in a final in the competition since Sergio Ramos in 2015-16, who also did so for Real Madrid (v Atlético Madrid).
- At the age of 38 years and 266 days, Luka Modric became the second-oldest outfield player to appear in a Champions League final, following Paolo Maldini for Milan in 2007 (38y 331d v Liverpool).
- Thibaut Courtois was just the second player to make his first start of a Champions League campaign in the final, after Ryan Bertrand for Chelsea in 2011-12.
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