The UEFA Champions League would define its new champion on June 1 at the legendary Wembley stadium, a venue where Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid will fight in 90′ epic minutes of pure football to lift the prestigious and heavy trophy to the London skies.
The 2023/24 #UCLfinal…
Dortmund 🆚 Real Madrid pic.twitter.com/IdSewiXdIn
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 8, 2024
This will be, at a historical level, only the third final of the Champions League between Real Madrid and a German team and the whites have sweet memories of those confrontations in the now distant years 2002, against Bayer Leverkusen, and in the 60’s against Eintracht Frankfurt.
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Real Madrid vs Eintracht Frankfurt (1959/60): The match of 10 goals
Almost 64 years ago, Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt qualified for a historic European Cup final in the 59/60 season. The Spanish team reached this final as four-time champion of the continental tournament after having won the first four fina
🏆 Nuestra quinta Copa de Europa.
🆚 Eintracht Frankfurt #RealFootball | #OTD pic.twitter.com/eXyEgIzmS6— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) May 18, 2023
In a match that ended with 10 goals thanks to the final 7-3 in favor of Real Madrid, stars such as Alfredo di Stéfano and Puskás were the great heroes of the match, scoring a hat-trick and a hat-trick of goals, respectively.
Real Madrid vs Bayer Leverkusen (2001/02), the last precedent
The last time Real Madrid and a German team reached a UEFA Champions League final was in the 2001/2002 season. During those years, the coach of Real Madrid was the Spanish Vicente del Bosque, while Klaus Toppmöller managed the German team.
In that match, stars such as Lúcio, Roberto Carlos, Berbatov, Casilllas, Raúl González Blanco, Solari, Figo, Ballack, Makélélé and Guti shone on both benches, but everything was defined thanks to a historic goal from a legendary French footballer : Zinedine Zidane and his magical volley in Glasgow.
💫 Tal día como hoy en 2002… ¡El histórico GOLAZO de volea de Zidane!#RealFootball pic.twitter.com/FaBLnKalkg
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) May 15, 2022
Real Madrid won that match 1-2, Lúcio for Leverkusen and Raúl and Zizou for the Merengue team were the authors of the goals in the match that ended the Spanish team’s ninth Champions League title.
Now, almost 23 years later, Real Madrid will try to replicate the epic feat against another German rival in a final on British soil. Against Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt, it was in Glasgow, against Dortmund, it will be in London.
Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund: Recent history
Throughout the entire history of the UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund have faced each other a total of 14 times, with clear favoritism towards the merengue side in this duel.
In total, Real Madrid has won six of these 14 games. Dortmund, for its part, has only been able to win three. The rest of the crashes? Well, simple, ties, specifically five.
- UCL (97/98 – Semis) : RM 2-0 BVB
- UCL (97/98 – Semis) : BVB 0-0 RM
- UCL (02/03 – Groups) : RM 2-1 BVB
- UCL (02/03 – Groups) : BVB 1-1 RM
- UCL (12/13 – Groups) : BVB 2-1 RM
- UCL (12/13 – Groups) : RM 2-2 BVB
- UCL (12/13 – Semis) : BVB 4-1 RM
- UCL (12/13 – Semis) : RM 2-0 BVB
- UCL (13/14 – Quarterfinals) : RM 3-0 BVB
- UCL (13/14 – Quarterfinals) : BVB 2-0 RM
- UCL (16/17 – Groups) : BVB 2-2 RM
- UCL (16/17 – Groups) : RM 2-2 BVB
- UCL (17/18 – Groups) : BVB 1-3 RM
- UCL (17/18 – Groups) : RM 3-2 BVB
- UCL (23/24 – FINAL) : To be determined.
Remembering Zagallo
Sambafoot Series launched a new documentary about the football legend Zagallo. Known as ‘Velho Lobo‘ and as superstitious as it gets, Zagallo helped shape what Brazilian football is nowadays — as a player and as a coach.
Binge the first four episodes available on Sambafoot’s Youtube channel. Stay tuned for upcoming releases as we keep telling this legend’s life story.
