Toni Kroos’ last mission

Few teams have faced Real Madrid in a Champions League final with as much conviction as Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.

However, in the end the result was the same as always.

Despite suffering and defending for the vast majority of the final, clinging for dear life at times, Real Madrid will leave London with a record 15th European Cup after late goals from Dani Carvajal and Vinícius Júnior earned them They gave Los Blancos a 2-0 victory. and broke the hearts of Dortmund.

It was a particularly cruel ending for Dortmund defender Ian Maatsen, who unnecessarily gave away the corner following a Carvajal header before gifting Real possession for Vinícius’ goal minutes later.

After a night of extra work, Real Madrid once again celebrated at the final whistle in a Champions League final, with fans clad in a white wall serenading their unbeatable team.

Since losing 1-0 to Liverpool in 1981, Real Madrid have not been defeated in a European Cup final, now a streak of nine consecutive victories spanning 43 years and taking the club’s total tally to 15, plus double that of AC, second classified. Milan has accumulated.

The atmosphere inside the stadium was clearly different before kick-off. The famous ‘Yellow Wall’ was in full form almost an hour before kick-off, transplanted brick by brick, fan by fan from Dortmund to Wembley without missing a beat.

Sensing that the Dortmund fans were overtaking Real Madrid’s finish, Vinícius raised his fist early towards the white-clad fans to provoke a thunderous roar from them.

Aside from that, however, it was the Dortmund fans who made all the noise in the first 10 minutes; Their relentless, deafening chants fill the gloomy London sky above Wembley Stadium.

There can be few things in football more intimidating than facing Real Madrid in the Champions League final.

But Dortmund were brave from the start. Edin Terzić’s team passed the ball fearlessly from the back, although a couple of particularly risky balls almost gave Real possession away.

It was the team’s deft passing that created the first real chance of the final, but Julian Brandt had the ball trapped under his feet and his shot went horribly wide with only Thibaut Courtois to beat in the box.

That play sparked a flurry of golden opportunities for Dortmund.

Niclas Füllkrug had a close-range header and a shot hit the post and rolled clumsily across the goal line, while Karim Adeyemi had two glorious one-on-one chances but failed to convert either.

Over the years, Real Madrid have developed an unerring ability to produce improbable comebacks in the Champions League.

Defender Nacho once said that the team possessed “magic” on European nights like this, but tonight it felt like there was a supernatural force preventing Dortmund from scoring.

However, the missed chances did not discourage the Dortmund fans, who almost 40,000 jumped in unison to shake the foundations of Wembley.

It was an absolutely dominant first half from Dortmund, the team paying no attention to Real’s remarkable record and aura of invincibility in this competition.

The Dortmund players were met with a deafening roar of approval when the referee whistled for half-time. The real fans, however, remained stunned silent. As they had been for much of the first half.

The team not only looked bewildered defensively but completely ineffective in attack, each attack stifled handily by the Dortmund defence.

It is truly an unusual sight to see Real fail so badly in the Champions League, although there remained an overwhelming feeling that Dortmund would eventually rue all those missed opportunities.

There were some early signs of life from the men in white early in the second half – a Toni Kroos free kick was surprisingly parried away by Gregor Kobel – but Dortmund came back.

The team continued to dominate in the first 20 minutes and Füllkrug had another glorious chance saved by Courtois.

The Belgian stopper produced one of the greatest performances of all time in a Champions League final when Real beat Liverpool two years ago, and was back to his best after returning from injury in time for the match .

Then the inevitable happened. First with a header from Carvajal and then when Maatsen passed the ball directly to Bellingham, allowing the Englishman to find Vinícius who shot the ball over Kobel.

Even as hope faded completely as the remaining seconds of stoppage time ticked away, and in front of thousands of cheering and enthusiastic Real Madrid fans, Dortmund supporters defiantly raised their scarves and continued to sing.

They thought they finally had a moment to belatedly celebrate when Füllkrug found the back of the net, but they didn’t even have one as the goal was disallowed for offside.

“Champions, champions olé, olé, olé,” chanted the Real fans while Carvajal waited to raise the trophy over his head.

It will be a sleepless night for both players and fans, but for very different reasons.

Related