Real Madrid Vs. Borussia Dortmund: Your Fight At The Santiago Bernabeu
JAKARTA - The 2023-24 Champions League final match will again bring together the defending champions Real Madrid with Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League group stage on Tuesday 22 October or Wednesday morning WIB at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid.
Nearly five months have passed since Carlo Ancelotti's side destroyed Borussia Dortmund's dream at Wembley Stadium to secure their 15th Champions League trophy. At that time, the German club wasted many chances before finally losing through two surprise goals in the second half.
Real Madrid are known for their ability to rise in the Champions League, and last season was no exception when they returned to dominate Europe. However, the start of the season was not as smooth as expected. In the second match of the Champions League group phase of the 2024-25 season, Real Madrid suffered a 0-1 defeat against Lille through Jonathan David's goal, their first defeat in the competition since May 2023.
Even so, Los Blancos had won an important 3-1 win over Stuttgart in the opening match. However, the three points have not been enough to put them in a safe position to qualify for the knockout phase, where they are currently 17th out of 36 teams.
After the defeat to Lille, Madrid bounced back with a win over Villarreal and Celta Vigo in La Liga, putting them temporarily at the top of the table with Barcelona, ahead of the upcoming El Clasico match.
Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund appeared more consistent in the Champions League. After a 7-1 win over Celtic, where Karim Adeyemi scored a hat-trick, Nuri Sahin's side are currently at the top of the standings with six points from two matches. They also recorded a 3-0 win over Club Brugge in the opener.
However, Dortmund's performance in the Bundesliga was not that good. Although they narrowly won 2-1 over St Pauli last weekend, two consecutive away defeats to Stuttgart (1-5) and Union Berlin (1-2) reflected alarming inconsistencies. Dortmund also never won in the Bernabeu in their previous seven Champions League visits, with five defeats and two draws.
Real Madrid got good news with Kylian Mbappe's recovery from a muscle injury that had stopped him. However, they still have to play without Dani Carvajal, who underwent knee surgery and was confirmed missing until the end of the season.
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David Alaba and Brahim Diaz are also still injured. The position of right-back will be filled again by Lucas Vazquez, while Ferland Mendy is predicted to replace Fran Garcia on the left side of the defense.
In attack, Rodrygo is likely to replace Eduardo Camavinga in the line-up. Mbappe and Vinicius Jr. will lead Madrid's attack in an effort to secure three important points.
In the Borussia Dortmund camp, they had to lose their star Karim Adeyemi, who suffered a hamstring injury after his brilliant performance against Celtic. Adeyemi will be out until the end of November.
Apart from Adeyemi, Dortmund also could not lower Julien Duranville (her thigh injury), Giovanni Reyna (feet injury), and Yan Couto ( Muscle injury). Pascal Gross and Niklas Sule are still doubtful about appearing after injury at the end of last week.
Jamie Bynoe-Gittens has a great chance of replacing Gross if needed, and if he scores, he will be the youngest England player to score against Real Madrid in the Champions League, breaking Alan Smith's record in 2001.
Player Composition Forecast
Real Madrid (4-3-3):Courtois; Vazquez, Militao, Rudiger, Mendy; Bellingham, Tchouameni, Valverde; Rodrygo, Mbappe, Vinicius Jr.
Borussia Dortmund (4-2-3-1):Cobel; Ryerson, Anton, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini; Can, Sabitzer; Malen, Brandt, Gittens; Guirassy.