Real Madrid's all-star team plays against Dortmund in the Champions League final

As his team looks to pull off one of the biggest upsets in history in a Champions League final against the formidable Real Madrid at London’s Wembley Stadium on Saturday, Borussia Dortmund coach Edin Terzic says that “anything is possible.”

Against a Dortmund squad that has defied the odds to get to the English capital, the star-studded Spanish giants are overwhelming favorites to win the title of European champions for the fifteenth time, and for the sixth time in the previous eleven seasons.

This season, Madrid has only lost twice in 54 games across all competitions. Along the way, they defeated Barcelona 4-1 to win the Spanish Super Cup and easily won La Liga by a margin of 10 points.

They had to work hard once again, though, to advance to the Champions League and what coach Carlo Ancelotti called the “biggest game of any season.”

“We have to enjoy being here,” said the Italian at his pre-match press conference. “But knowing it can go wrong because we are close to the most important thing in football -– winning a Champions League — but having the fear this can escape us.”

Ancelotti’s team survived a volley of attacks from the reigning champions Manchester City to win their quarterfinal match on penalties. In the final four, they overcame Bayern Munich thanks to another historic late comeback at the Santiago Bernabeu.

“We never stop believing, no matter how the circumstances are,” said Luka Modric, who along with Nacho, Dani Carvajal and Toni Kroos, in the final match of his club career, can win the European Cup for a record-equalling sixth time as a player.

“We always believe, keep believing, keep pushing, fighting until the end. In the end, we managed to find a way to beat opponents.

“Many people say there is luck, but when it happens so many times, I think it’s not just luck.”

Dortmund shaped Bellingham, a player from Madrid –
Dortmund has to overcome the financial gap between the two teams to win the Champions League for just the second time ever.

According to financial analysts Deloitte, Madrid recorded record income last season of 831 million euros ($901 million), compared to Dortmund’s 420 million euros.

Jude Bellingham’s professional trajectory illustrates the magnitude of the challenge confronting the Germans.

Selecting him as a teenager from English Championship team Birmingham, Dortmund shaped and developed him until Madrid acquired him a year ago for a transfer cost above 100 million euros.

Dortmund had a difficult domestic season without him, coming in seventh in the Bundesliga, 27 points behind Bayer Leverkusen.

To make it to the final for the third time in the team’s history and the first since they were defeated by Bayern Munich at Wembley eleven years ago, Terzic’s team has nevertheless saved their best for the Champions League stage.

In the group of death, which also included Newcastle, AC Milan, and Paris Saint-Germain, Dortmund triumphed.

After that, PSV Eindhoven and Atletico Madrid were eliminated, and in the semifinals, PSG was shut out over two legs thanks to a valiant defensive effort.

The German powerhouses are thought to have brought almost 100,000 supporters to London, even though the team was only given 30,000 tickets for the stadium’s 90,000 seats.

In order to guarantee that the players’ decision to return to Wembley for a big final is not questioned, UEFA will be hoping that the attention is on the players on the field coming full time.

Violence erupted at the Euro 2020 final three years ago when fans without tickets stormed the stadium doors in an attempt to enter.

The Euro 2028 final will be held at Wembley, where the English Football Association has invested £5 million ($6 million) to upgrade infrastructure and safety.

AFP