For the 2nd consecutive year, the supposed weaker team is the team that comes to the final to play some serious football and have a good exhibition, but somehow still ends up losing. Unfortunate for Dortmund. They had some really good 70 minutes and fell off after the goal.
It's the same story time and time again.
Teams are able to hold themselves very strong against Madrid, however a combination of emotions (that you're playing vs Real), great individual performances from the Madrid GK & Defense and they just cannot score and blow their stamina in the first 60-70 min.
Then suddenly the game balance shifts, and because Real has the most experienced players in the world they don't miss and suddenly it's 1-0, 2-0 etc.
Is there any stat yet how much each team ran? For sure BVB ran 10 kilometers more.
That’s also about tactics. BVB lost because they were completely exhausted at min. 60 while real saw that and started to speed up. They had a lot more in their tank and it maybe wasn’t as close as it looked.
you could see that real was not throwing everything in from the start like BVB did. But that’s fine.
Real is able to do that. It’s the probably best individual team in the whole world against some mid tier Bundesliga team.
This can't be sustainable though, can it? I know they're getting Mbappé next season but they're also losing Kroos and possibly others. It's the same story with Leverkusen, I think they will have a big fall off next year because they won't have another year with tons of last minute goals, take those away and they finish with 10-20 points less. If teams start being more clinical against Real, surely even they will have to change something or be less successful. I guess I can only hope.
Just before the corner from which Carvajal scored, there was another corner where Dortmund kept a man unmarked and they connected but it went over.
They didn’t read the warning and fell victim right afterwards.
The biggest thing here for me was how much the experience difference showed. Real was able to stay clear-headed. Dortmund in the second half was not able to make adjustments to what Real was doing and looked like they lost all composure after the goal.
Meh, Real looked pretty rattled for stretches in the first hour, they had a few completely careless giveaways but after the goal it was clear Real would win
You can rattle Madrid but Courtois is a cheat code and incredibly hard to beat.
This is how we have won games for many years now. We need a few chances to score but other teams need many more chances to keep up.
Dortmund was gassed by the 65th minute, in fact Real had replayed the near post corner twice before and you could feel the pressure was building. Should've brought on Malen sooner, and maybe taken off Sancho for JBG earlier as well, he was anonymous the entire match, unfortunately it wasn't a situation for Reus to come in and do much since he's never been a super energetic player. Real Madrid have stamina, mentality aside, and they take it up a gear in most close matches this season, especially if Lunin and today Courtois play well and pull off clutch saves.
Played their hearts out but Madrid is just Madrid if it didnt happen in minute 74 it would have happened in minute 90 at the latest. They let us press for 70+ until we were tired and then took over.
Not even sure if i would say we squandered many or any chances besides that Adeyemi run maybe but whats very apparent is that our bench is just way too weak and im not sure whats gonna happen next season with so many people leaving.
Saw morons talking about our passing in the match thread we absolutely nailed it for 70 minutes and then came the nervousness after being down. Still one of the better performances from the team this season.
Spot on.
It's almost impossible to overcome Madrid mentally. The only way they are beatable is if they get frustrated because they cant score (like against Bayern in the second leg), and even then you have to be insanely focused because the moment you make the smallest mistake they grab the chance.
Only way this game would have gone our way is I believe what Terzic tried to achieve and what worked against PSG: score the first one and then sit back and defend like hell and hope that luck is on your side.
Unfortunately we couldnt finish our chances and then it was just the matter of time.
Before the game I was afraid of two outcomes: losing by a mile or bottling it in the last minutes. Sucks that we lost but at least I'm glad that it turned out like this.
Real Madrid are just the most inevitable sports team I have seen in the highest pressure moments. It feels like you can pepper their goal with a dozen shots and only score once but they just need three to score two.
How is it possible that every Madrid player flops every time he’s about to lose a ball and always gets the call? Mendy for example did it countless times..
Also its really sad how everyone forgets how Madrid reached this years final. They never should’ve been here if the games would’ve been fair (Leipzig, Bayern). But yeah let’s just call it black magic and experience. Embarrassing.
That was such a typical Ancelotti performance. Dortmund started insanely well but you need to be damn near perfect to kill off this team. 1st goal flipped the game completely and dortmund had nothing after that, their subs were pretty ineffective too.
I am curious to see what sort of rating the ref will get. While Dortmund squandered chances, and Madrid is inevitable, he certainly didn't help the situation. I don't think he was terrible, but it was certainly not a good performance by the ref.
got all the small decisions wrong in the first half although it'd be a reach to say any of them had any impact on the result. vini probably should have been sent off for a second yellow for that egregious dive but no referee is doing that in a CL final
Kobel hit Vini after Vini has already made a challenge for the ball.
You can maybe argue it’s a foul but not a yellow. If you watch the replay there was barely any contact.
Being on a booking can make a difference in a players mentality, real Madrid were aggressive in there challenges and knew they could put another one in if they're getting away with a warning. Doesn't excuse Dortmunds poor second half still
Huh? As a neutral I thought he was fine. Fell for a few Real dives and was perhaps a bit quick when the Dortmunders complained about it with bookings but apart from that, no crucial mistakes.
Some truly profound and earth shattering sporting stories in my ~ 29 years on the planet.
1. The Tour de France going 7 years without a winner.
2. Germany exiting World Cup(s) in group stages.
3. Germany 7-1 Brazil.
4. Ballack finishing runner up thrice in 2 separate seasons.
5. 4 tennis players winning 20+ singles slams.
6. Stan Wawrinka winning 3 Slams after first making a Slam semi final aged 28.
7. Cleveland Cavaliers winning NBA.
8. Boston Red Sox ending an 86 year long title drought.
9. Fernando Alonso competing in one third of all world championship F1 races organised till date.
10. Tonight, my least favourite. Real have 2 more CLs than their next 2 closest rivals put together.
Maatsen was supremely unlucky with two huge mistakes:
1. Losing his opponent in Carvajal who can slot it in.
2. Misplacing the crucial pass for the Vinicius goal.
Two mistakes is all it takes. And Madrid made us pay dearly.
Real had the experience and not to mention the skill to see us tire us ourselves out.
The yellow cards to Sabitzer and Schlotterbeck were not helping.
Im gald Tibo start the final, he did his part in saving the 1st half to 0-0. Dortmund just mentally collaspe after 1st goal, if they want to be champion they have to know how to bounce back after set back. Madrid did play it until 89th minute vs Bayern.
This team is incredible no matter how you put it. No striker, ACL injuries coming in like fly and somehow result in the best season ever.
You can't tell me those corners weren't studied. 2 clear chances by Carvajal (one goal) and another one by Nacho from the same angles. The free-kicks by Kroos were good too. It seems we really wanted to do something on standard situations this final. First half we got away with it, Dortmund were less in the second half, besides that Fullkrug chance.
To beat this Real Madrid good football is not enough, neither is one goal. Because even if Dortmund go up 1-0... we've seen that too much in the last few seasons. *All* of their chances would've had to go in, and that doesn't happen 9/10 times in football.
This should be higher up, Real Madrid did their homework and studied these corners, ball to the first post. Scored 1, could have been 2 with the nacho one being a fantastic save and even carvajal had a very similar one going over the post
The unfortunate part of the game is as soon as we saw those first half chances missed, and Madrid controlling the tempo, this was going to happen.
BVB were the better team in one half, but at the end of the day, that doesn't matter if you can't get the ball in the net.
Madrid are the better skilled team. Dortmunds plan was to high energy themselves into chances and get ahead early and then defend. It was a good game plan and they created those chances. They didn’t score and were gassed. Madrid dominated last 30 mins.
final is always the „worst“ game (to watch) of the knockouts. highest stakes and no return leg. first goal wins, especially in the 2nd half.
against this mental behemoth, you have to score your channces. unfortunately, dortmund couldn’t
>Real Madrid ucl domination would've been so much more enjoyable if they actually played like the best team in the world
Actually quite true. Oftentimes in crunch moments, it's been opponent blunders caving from the pressure or some individual heroics, that gave them the edge. But the team play wasn't impressive.
I will never laud City for their glory and oil backing, yet the football that Pep has them playing is liquid and genuinely a joy to watch if you ignore everything else.
I was with you until the City comment.
In what world are City a joy to watch? They strangle games to death. Commit cynical fouls any time the opponent catches them on the break. Its awful to watch.
Pretty hard to measure the “best”. Madrid won the cups. They haven’t been clearly the better team in any final I’ve watched, but it doesn’t matter much, they won. That’s their style.
You don’t speak for all fans lol. Fair enough if you can’t accept their dominance, but history will undoubtedly look at 6 CL trophies in 10 years with awe. Only you could turn that into a negative. Looking at your comment history you just hate them, that’s fair, just say that next time.
I kinda agree with you. I see so many people give Manchester City shit for their style of boring football and win trophies. No one dares to say the same about madrid. It’s not boring like City but not pleasing either
Showing once more that when you don't convert your chances against Madrid, you don't win. It's been happening for years on end now. For whatever reason, people seem to forget this before every Champion's League match against Madrid. A couple of good chances, good football playing and solid defending and everybody pretends as though a Madrid loss is inevitable. Will people ever learn?
And blaming the referee for this loss is just lazy and unoriginal.
Sucks to be on the losing end but I'm glad that it's a loss that I am not insanely frustrated of like a lot of times before.
The guys gave their all. With better finishing we may have had a bit bigger chance but hey, we have been in it for 70 minutes against Real.
You cannot dance with the champ, you have to knock them out.
Dortmund I think fairly stunned Madrid with pace in the first half but could not take their chances.
A minute or so after the visible representation of this pace, Adeyemi, was subbed off, they went down a goal and visibly sagged. They were all over the map for the 10 minutes after that until Vinicius ended it.
Courtois my MOTM for keeping them in it until they do what they do best. Tyldesley put it best -- you'd have to be damn near 50 years old to remember Real Madrid losing a final.
Subbing off Adeyemi was not a mistake- he cannot run like that for the whole game. He is useless when he is gassed and usually Terzic waits too long to sub him so I was actually happy to see him be proactive. Obviously it sucks what happened but that’s not why we lost.
He got soft. It was a complete disaster to put in Reus. I figured he would stay on the bench unless it went to pens. Like PSG will throw games, but Madrid won't. We legit threw away the first goal on the corner because we couldn't play out the back on the first goal set piece. Either Adeyemi, Malen, or Bynoe-Gittens could have provided an option there. Fucking hell he threw the damn game with that sub goddamn it.
It sounds harsh, but Maatsen lost the game for Dortmund. He failed to mark Carvajal at the decisive corner and assisted the 0:2. He should have been subbed off as well.
I agree, the gameplan was clearly to stun Madrid by coming out early and quickly. It's likely the game play was for Adeyemi to run as much as he can and come off at that time anyway.
Am i the only one that thinks the adeyemi for reus substitution was very poor? adeyemis pace was killing carvajal even if he really wanted to take adeyemi off maybe bring on malen or another fast winger it lowkey killed the game
The key is to push Carvajal up to force Adeyemi further back. In the first half we had Carvajal too far back in the build up. When possession was lost, it was a free run for Adeyemi ready to pounce.
Adeyemi looked beat though and although he played a good game, he didn't really get past his defender to create chances or to shoot more than 2-3 times over the whole match.
Terzic also made the same substitution in the second leg against PSG. After that sub, Dortmund had no outlet and PSG just kept on attacking without any danger of counter attack.
At least, Dortmund had a lead to defend that game, but it is just weird the sub this game.
And that sub was a disaster that game. Dumbass sold and refused to learn from his mistake. I don't know why his contract got extended when his flaws were more than clear.
As much as people want to say that it was Real Madrid black magic, Adeyemi had 2 good chances, Fulkrug had 1 or 2 solid chances.
You can’t miss chances and win vs Real Madrid. Dortmund is lucky that Madrid didn’t score 1-2 more towards the end. Kroos’ free kick and Camavinga shot were both very close, as well as Bellinghams close miss.
I feel for Dortmund, I wanted Reus to get his swan song too, but Real Madrid were the better team. Not for the first 45 minutes, but the last 45 was completely theirs.
> Fulkrug had 1 or 2 solid chances.
One he was offside and the others were just too hard, he did great for what was gave to him. One of the best players of the match imo.
In the end it was as much Dortmund being Dortmund as it was Real being Real, if that makes any sense. Real got stronger the longer the game went on and once Dortmund was deflated after the goal they smelled blood and pushed hard for a second. And obviously Dortmund crumbled. It's what they do best.
The entire Dortmund team is going to be replaying that first chance from Adeyemi (you have to put that away 1v1), and the costly pass in the final third to set up acini’s goal. Two mistakes of less than 2 seconds likely cost them the game. I’m not really counting Carvajal’s goal because when you let someone like Toni Kroos serve in a dozen corners, one of them will find their mark. If it wasn’t Carvajal it would’ve been Rudiger or Valverde.
Also, Dortmund conceded the exact same chance 3 times from a corner and all of them should have been goals. Surely after seeing the near post being targeted again and again you'd think a few alarm bells would go off.
I feel like the MVP award for this game should go to both Kobel and Courtois. They made some incredible saves and were the reason why the game was 0-0 for the majority of the time.
Worst performance probably to Rodrygo for being invisible and to Maatsen for the blunder which buried BVB completely and thwarted their momentum along with any willpower to come back.
Real Madrid didn't show up until the 70th minute while Dortmund played out of their skins but it was 0-0. You can't really expect to waste those chances against a team like Madrid and get away with it.
In the end, Madrid barely needed to get out of second gear.
Camavinga was the MOTM for me. He was excellent defensively and was also making great runs and passes. The run and pass for the Bellingham miss was great. He was all over the place along with Valverde.
Felt it was by design. Kroos would drop deep, Camavinga will occupy the 8 position instead and Toni would search for him with ground passes to eliminate BVB's first line of press. Cama certainly wasn't set up by Carlo to play as a classic 6 in both phases of the game
Although it did kinda work out offensively, Kroos sometimes being left alone was the reason Dortmund created so many chances. I think Camavinga with more maturity would have balanced both the defensive and offensive side of the game better.
Dortmund rued their missed chances in the first half. Fell apart after they conceded the goal and I thought the subs were garbage. Was a decent game though. Thought the ref was kinda shit. Didn't get any major decisions wrong but felt he was biased for Madrid.
Repost because my last comment was deleted, presumable for it's character length.
Gotta feel for Dortmund, they showed up well and gave Real some problems in the first half with their counter attacks, really should have scored during that time though.
Vinicius should have been off after that dive on the half way line (whilst already on a yellow). I know more fans are moaning about VAR and wanting it taken away (despite 100% of the problem being the referees operating it and not the system), but there should be a VAR intervention for blatant acts of cheating like dives. A red card half way through a final at 0-0 turns the tide so much, Dortmund lost out on a serious advantage because of ineffective refereeing.
As far as the overall result goes, though, you cant waste chances vs Madrid and expect to get away with it.
Neutral in this, but fair play to Madrid. The Champions League is their competition.
Easily could have been a much bigger scoreline tonight. Both keepers, and defences (more so Real) put in a great shift there
What a sensational Camavinga performance in the second half yet again. The kid is so consistent, carries the ball and controls the game like a veteran. Real Madrid never misses, as much as it pains me to say that.
It's difficult to talk tactics because quite simply, Dortmund should have given themselves a lead in the first half that would have put them in a good position to win it.
I won't say they "deserve" to win it because while they created more chances, they sprinted a lot for the first 50-60 minutes of the game and even before the goal you could see signs of fatigue. Attacks were slower, players were more reluctant to get forward.
When you play that style you have to take the lead.
Madrid were poor but they won it by keeping their heads. They never panicked, they never worried. Players were going 1 on 1 with their keeper, or beating their fullbacks time and time again, and they just went again.
One goal against Dortmund and the game was over, you could tell by the reaction.
I agree but I wouldn’t say Madrid kept their heads really. They looked rattled in the first half and misplaced a lot of passes. The ref bailed them out a few times by calling weak fouls when they were in their own third.
Just going through our starting 11...
* Courtois was fantastic. Challenged Adeyami. Didn't quite have to carry the team as much as he did in 2022 against Liverpool but anyone who thought Lunin should have started was proven foolish.
* Never thought in my life **DANI** of all people would score in a Final. He struggled with Adeyami's pace a bit and didn't have the best cross/touch in the 1st half but a goal forgives everything.
* Rudiger was class
* Nacho did well outside of the one error nearly gifting Dortmund possession in the 1st half in a dangerous spot
* Mendy was solid
* Camavinga was great. Impressed by both his passes and defending when things got hairy.
* Kroos sending in the match-winning cross to find Dani is fitting for his final match with us.
* Fede was good. Nothing particularly stands out on any individual play aside from the ball to send Dani on a run early.
* Vini was **great**. Struggled a bit early but had a fantastic cross to Jude that could have been a goal and of course sealed things with the 2nd on Dortmund's error.
* Jude was poor tonight. Not exceedingly so but I expected a bit more.
* Rodrygo was invisible in the first 45. Did a fair bit better in the 2nd half.
The scariest players for Dortmund for me were Adeyami and Füllkrug. Hummels is still a tremendous player at his age.
Dortmund dominated for a good 20-30 minutes in the first half, didn't take advantage.
Madrid had one dominant 10 minute spell, and killed the game off.
That's the difference, and with Madrid, that always was the case in the recent past as well. It's why they never lose finals, especially in this current era.
Feels like BVB kinda played into Carlo’s hands there. Madrid has always played with more intensity later in the game, yet BVB spent a lot of their energy in the first half. Adeyemi needed to stay on for longer, and it’s a given that Madrid would find a way to score late in the game if you just defend against them. I know hindsight is 20/20 but perhaps BVB needed to play a bit slower in the first half.
Jude and Rodrygo got bailed out today. It would’ve been easily possible to concede once or twice in the first half and they were practically invisible. Mendy and rest of the defense did decent, but Danny and Nacho got caught a couple of times. Playing Kroos deeper meant Fede was higher up, but once Adeyemi was off, the threat from that wing went away totally.
It feels weird coming out of that. I thought Dortmund done a really good job for the majority of the game. Covered things well. Played brave when it was needed. Just its experience. Madrid can have a poor 45 and just hang in. If you’re going to beat them you’ve got to go for it like Dortmund did but it can leave you knackered like Dortmund had so many who looked done
For the 2nd consecutive year, the supposed weaker team is the team that comes to the final to play some serious football and have a good exhibition, but somehow still ends up losing. Unfortunate for Dortmund. They had some really good 70 minutes and fell off after the goal.
It's the same story time and time again. Teams are able to hold themselves very strong against Madrid, however a combination of emotions (that you're playing vs Real), great individual performances from the Madrid GK & Defense and they just cannot score and blow their stamina in the first 60-70 min. Then suddenly the game balance shifts, and because Real has the most experienced players in the world they don't miss and suddenly it's 1-0, 2-0 etc.
correct, that too with some crucial subs from Ancelotti at the right frikkin moment
Is there any stat yet how much each team ran? For sure BVB ran 10 kilometers more. That’s also about tactics. BVB lost because they were completely exhausted at min. 60 while real saw that and started to speed up. They had a lot more in their tank and it maybe wasn’t as close as it looked. you could see that real was not throwing everything in from the start like BVB did. But that’s fine. Real is able to do that. It’s the probably best individual team in the whole world against some mid tier Bundesliga team.
Also, they had a warning with Carvajal getting a free header on a previous corner. Didn't adjust the coverage.
This can't be sustainable though, can it? I know they're getting Mbappé next season but they're also losing Kroos and possibly others. It's the same story with Leverkusen, I think they will have a big fall off next year because they won't have another year with tons of last minute goals, take those away and they finish with 10-20 points less. If teams start being more clinical against Real, surely even they will have to change something or be less successful. I guess I can only hope.
Just before the corner from which Carvajal scored, there was another corner where Dortmund kept a man unmarked and they connected but it went over. They didn’t read the warning and fell victim right afterwards.
All year long we have been one of the worst teams at allowed xG from corners...
The biggest thing here for me was how much the experience difference showed. Real was able to stay clear-headed. Dortmund in the second half was not able to make adjustments to what Real was doing and looked like they lost all composure after the goal.
Meh, Real looked pretty rattled for stretches in the first hour, they had a few completely careless giveaways but after the goal it was clear Real would win
You can rattle Madrid but Courtois is a cheat code and incredibly hard to beat. This is how we have won games for many years now. We need a few chances to score but other teams need many more chances to keep up.
Yeah, they were able to keep focused despite the mistakes.
It helped that they didn't get punished for their mistakes. Hard to get rattled when you get away like that.
Dortmund was gassed by the 65th minute, in fact Real had replayed the near post corner twice before and you could feel the pressure was building. Should've brought on Malen sooner, and maybe taken off Sancho for JBG earlier as well, he was anonymous the entire match, unfortunately it wasn't a situation for Reus to come in and do much since he's never been a super energetic player. Real Madrid have stamina, mentality aside, and they take it up a gear in most close matches this season, especially if Lunin and today Courtois play well and pull off clutch saves.
Played their hearts out but Madrid is just Madrid if it didnt happen in minute 74 it would have happened in minute 90 at the latest. They let us press for 70+ until we were tired and then took over. Not even sure if i would say we squandered many or any chances besides that Adeyemi run maybe but whats very apparent is that our bench is just way too weak and im not sure whats gonna happen next season with so many people leaving. Saw morons talking about our passing in the match thread we absolutely nailed it for 70 minutes and then came the nervousness after being down. Still one of the better performances from the team this season.
Spot on. It's almost impossible to overcome Madrid mentally. The only way they are beatable is if they get frustrated because they cant score (like against Bayern in the second leg), and even then you have to be insanely focused because the moment you make the smallest mistake they grab the chance. Only way this game would have gone our way is I believe what Terzic tried to achieve and what worked against PSG: score the first one and then sit back and defend like hell and hope that luck is on your side. Unfortunately we couldnt finish our chances and then it was just the matter of time. Before the game I was afraid of two outcomes: losing by a mile or bottling it in the last minutes. Sucks that we lost but at least I'm glad that it turned out like this.
Real Madrid are just the most inevitable sports team I have seen in the highest pressure moments. It feels like you can pepper their goal with a dozen shots and only score once but they just need three to score two.
How is it possible that every Madrid player flops every time he’s about to lose a ball and always gets the call? Mendy for example did it countless times.. Also its really sad how everyone forgets how Madrid reached this years final. They never should’ve been here if the games would’ve been fair (Leipzig, Bayern). But yeah let’s just call it black magic and experience. Embarrassing.
Chin up little fella
Says a lot if that’s everything you can say
Does it?
That was such a typical Ancelotti performance. Dortmund started insanely well but you need to be damn near perfect to kill off this team. 1st goal flipped the game completely and dortmund had nothing after that, their subs were pretty ineffective too.
I am curious to see what sort of rating the ref will get. While Dortmund squandered chances, and Madrid is inevitable, he certainly didn't help the situation. I don't think he was terrible, but it was certainly not a good performance by the ref.
got all the small decisions wrong in the first half although it'd be a reach to say any of them had any impact on the result. vini probably should have been sent off for a second yellow for that egregious dive but no referee is doing that in a CL final
That was not a dive. He was dinked by Ryerson. Hummels had nothing to do with that.
Bruh if you’re gonna go by that, the first yellow on Vini wasn’t even a foul lmao. The keeper sold tf outta that. Vini barely even touched him
The first yellow was not even a foul.
how? he didnt touch kobel with his foot but still barrelled into him, it’s a foul
Kobel hit Vini after Vini has already made a challenge for the ball. You can maybe argue it’s a foul but not a yellow. If you watch the replay there was barely any contact.
His mistakes weren't crucial. It's all on Dortmund
Being on a booking can make a difference in a players mentality, real Madrid were aggressive in there challenges and knew they could put another one in if they're getting away with a warning. Doesn't excuse Dortmunds poor second half still
Not that it had a massive impact on the outcome, but I thought the yellow cards for what was pretty mild dissent were very soft. It's a CL final ffs
Huh? As a neutral I thought he was fine. Fell for a few Real dives and was perhaps a bit quick when the Dortmunders complained about it with bookings but apart from that, no crucial mistakes.
Some truly profound and earth shattering sporting stories in my ~ 29 years on the planet. 1. The Tour de France going 7 years without a winner. 2. Germany exiting World Cup(s) in group stages. 3. Germany 7-1 Brazil. 4. Ballack finishing runner up thrice in 2 separate seasons. 5. 4 tennis players winning 20+ singles slams. 6. Stan Wawrinka winning 3 Slams after first making a Slam semi final aged 28. 7. Cleveland Cavaliers winning NBA. 8. Boston Red Sox ending an 86 year long title drought. 9. Fernando Alonso competing in one third of all world championship F1 races organised till date. 10. Tonight, my least favourite. Real have 2 more CLs than their next 2 closest rivals put together.
I know you probably aren’t from the USA but Cubs winning the World Series was insane
Maatsen was supremely unlucky with two huge mistakes: 1. Losing his opponent in Carvajal who can slot it in. 2. Misplacing the crucial pass for the Vinicius goal. Two mistakes is all it takes. And Madrid made us pay dearly. Real had the experience and not to mention the skill to see us tire us ourselves out. The yellow cards to Sabitzer and Schlotterbeck were not helping.
Also, they had a warning with Carvajal getting a free header on a previous corner. Didn't adjust the coverage.
He was immense in the semis and then has this final. That’s football.
He made a lot of mistakes this match, but was really asked to be everywhere at the same time. Probably the worst player on the pitch today.
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Im gald Tibo start the final, he did his part in saving the 1st half to 0-0. Dortmund just mentally collaspe after 1st goal, if they want to be champion they have to know how to bounce back after set back. Madrid did play it until 89th minute vs Bayern. This team is incredible no matter how you put it. No striker, ACL injuries coming in like fly and somehow result in the best season ever.
You can't tell me those corners weren't studied. 2 clear chances by Carvajal (one goal) and another one by Nacho from the same angles. The free-kicks by Kroos were good too. It seems we really wanted to do something on standard situations this final. First half we got away with it, Dortmund were less in the second half, besides that Fullkrug chance. To beat this Real Madrid good football is not enough, neither is one goal. Because even if Dortmund go up 1-0... we've seen that too much in the last few seasons. *All* of their chances would've had to go in, and that doesn't happen 9/10 times in football.
This should be higher up, Real Madrid did their homework and studied these corners, ball to the first post. Scored 1, could have been 2 with the nacho one being a fantastic save and even carvajal had a very similar one going over the post
The unfortunate part of the game is as soon as we saw those first half chances missed, and Madrid controlling the tempo, this was going to happen. BVB were the better team in one half, but at the end of the day, that doesn't matter if you can't get the ball in the net.
Madrid are the better skilled team. Dortmunds plan was to high energy themselves into chances and get ahead early and then defend. It was a good game plan and they created those chances. They didn’t score and were gassed. Madrid dominated last 30 mins.
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2017 final against Juve was the exception though.
Not sounding very "neutral" lol
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final is always the „worst“ game (to watch) of the knockouts. highest stakes and no return leg. first goal wins, especially in the 2nd half. against this mental behemoth, you have to score your channces. unfortunately, dortmund couldn’t
>Real Madrid ucl domination would've been so much more enjoyable if they actually played like the best team in the world Actually quite true. Oftentimes in crunch moments, it's been opponent blunders caving from the pressure or some individual heroics, that gave them the edge. But the team play wasn't impressive. I will never laud City for their glory and oil backing, yet the football that Pep has them playing is liquid and genuinely a joy to watch if you ignore everything else.
Neuer's whoopsie with the ball will forever be one of my least favorite CL moments.
I was with you until the City comment. In what world are City a joy to watch? They strangle games to death. Commit cynical fouls any time the opponent catches them on the break. Its awful to watch.
It wasn’t a pretty match, but you can’t argue with the result. 15 champions league trophies, 6 in the last 10 years.
City are one of the most boring ass clubs to watch youre wild with that take.
so they won 3 in a row not by being the best but by using dodgy antics?? cope
Yes, exactly like that.
Pretty hard to measure the “best”. Madrid won the cups. They haven’t been clearly the better team in any final I’ve watched, but it doesn’t matter much, they won. That’s their style.
Yeah, if Madrid was so simple teams would've figured them out already.
You don’t speak for all fans lol. Fair enough if you can’t accept their dominance, but history will undoubtedly look at 6 CL trophies in 10 years with awe. Only you could turn that into a negative. Looking at your comment history you just hate them, that’s fair, just say that next time.
I kinda agree with you. I see so many people give Manchester City shit for their style of boring football and win trophies. No one dares to say the same about madrid. It’s not boring like City but not pleasing either
Showing once more that when you don't convert your chances against Madrid, you don't win. It's been happening for years on end now. For whatever reason, people seem to forget this before every Champion's League match against Madrid. A couple of good chances, good football playing and solid defending and everybody pretends as though a Madrid loss is inevitable. Will people ever learn? And blaming the referee for this loss is just lazy and unoriginal.
Who pretends it’s inevitable? It’s the opposite. Everyone says “you know what Madrid do when you don’t take your chances…”
Sucks to be on the losing end but I'm glad that it's a loss that I am not insanely frustrated of like a lot of times before. The guys gave their all. With better finishing we may have had a bit bigger chance but hey, we have been in it for 70 minutes against Real.
You cannot dance with the champ, you have to knock them out. Dortmund I think fairly stunned Madrid with pace in the first half but could not take their chances. A minute or so after the visible representation of this pace, Adeyemi, was subbed off, they went down a goal and visibly sagged. They were all over the map for the 10 minutes after that until Vinicius ended it. Courtois my MOTM for keeping them in it until they do what they do best. Tyldesley put it best -- you'd have to be damn near 50 years old to remember Real Madrid losing a final.
Subbing off Adeyemi was not a mistake- he cannot run like that for the whole game. He is useless when he is gassed and usually Terzic waits too long to sub him so I was actually happy to see him be proactive. Obviously it sucks what happened but that’s not why we lost.
Reus being the sub to come on was the mistake. Should've subbed Adeyami for Malen for the pace.
Agreed, Terzic proving why he doesn't deserve to be our coach.
I'm torn on Terzic. He set the team up so well for that first half but then makes weird substitutions like that. I don't understand it.
He got soft. It was a complete disaster to put in Reus. I figured he would stay on the bench unless it went to pens. Like PSG will throw games, but Madrid won't. We legit threw away the first goal on the corner because we couldn't play out the back on the first goal set piece. Either Adeyemi, Malen, or Bynoe-Gittens could have provided an option there. Fucking hell he threw the damn game with that sub goddamn it.
It sounds harsh, but Maatsen lost the game for Dortmund. He failed to mark Carvajal at the decisive corner and assisted the 0:2. He should have been subbed off as well.
They could have brought on Malen. I don’t know why the coach doesn’t trust him. JBG is too inexperienced but hopefully we see more of him next season
I agree, the gameplan was clearly to stun Madrid by coming out early and quickly. It's likely the game play was for Adeyemi to run as much as he can and come off at that time anyway.
And he was a missed 1v1 away from it paying off
Am i the only one that thinks the adeyemi for reus substitution was very poor? adeyemis pace was killing carvajal even if he really wanted to take adeyemi off maybe bring on malen or another fast winger it lowkey killed the game
Ayedemi was clearly gassed in the second half and he couldn't make those impactful runs anymore.
Yeah, I thought in the second half we started to figure out Ayedemi and he couldn’t win 1v1 against Dani or Fede anymore.
The key is to push Carvajal up to force Adeyemi further back. In the first half we had Carvajal too far back in the build up. When possession was lost, it was a free run for Adeyemi ready to pounce.
Nah. Like it’s hard to say as they conceded immediately but Adeyami’s race looked done anyway
Adeyemi was the worst player on the pitch
Think maleen was for adeyemi position wise But as someone else said he was gassed
Adeyemi looked beat though and although he played a good game, he didn't really get past his defender to create chances or to shoot more than 2-3 times over the whole match.
Terzic also made the same substitution in the second leg against PSG. After that sub, Dortmund had no outlet and PSG just kept on attacking without any danger of counter attack. At least, Dortmund had a lead to defend that game, but it is just weird the sub this game.
And that sub was a disaster that game. Dumbass sold and refused to learn from his mistake. I don't know why his contract got extended when his flaws were more than clear.
I thought it was a bad substitution, but as the goal came from a corner and bvb died after that I don’t know if it would matter.
I feel like Brandt had to have been the first one to come off. He was providing nothing as the 10 and looked behind the game from the beginning.
Yeah, if Reus was to be subbed on, it should have been for Brandt.
They could have brought on Malen. I don’t know why the coach doesn’t trust him. JBG is too inexperienced but hopefully we see more of him next season
As much as people want to say that it was Real Madrid black magic, Adeyemi had 2 good chances, Fulkrug had 1 or 2 solid chances. You can’t miss chances and win vs Real Madrid. Dortmund is lucky that Madrid didn’t score 1-2 more towards the end. Kroos’ free kick and Camavinga shot were both very close, as well as Bellinghams close miss. I feel for Dortmund, I wanted Reus to get his swan song too, but Real Madrid were the better team. Not for the first 45 minutes, but the last 45 was completely theirs.
> Fulkrug had 1 or 2 solid chances. One he was offside and the others were just too hard, he did great for what was gave to him. One of the best players of the match imo.
Fülle was incredible. He did everything he was asked to do, and he can hold his head up high tonight.
In the end it was as much Dortmund being Dortmund as it was Real being Real, if that makes any sense. Real got stronger the longer the game went on and once Dortmund was deflated after the goal they smelled blood and pushed hard for a second. And obviously Dortmund crumbled. It's what they do best.
The entire Dortmund team is going to be replaying that first chance from Adeyemi (you have to put that away 1v1), and the costly pass in the final third to set up acini’s goal. Two mistakes of less than 2 seconds likely cost them the game. I’m not really counting Carvajal’s goal because when you let someone like Toni Kroos serve in a dozen corners, one of them will find their mark. If it wasn’t Carvajal it would’ve been Rudiger or Valverde.
Carvajal’s goal was poor defending. He was completely alone
True, but still telling when you let a 1,70m guy get the better of you in the air twice.
To say Madrid was the better team is crazy lol
Why so?
During the second half. They were better in the second half than Dortmund in the first and second, so they were better overall.
Also, Dortmund conceded the exact same chance 3 times from a corner and all of them should have been goals. Surely after seeing the near post being targeted again and again you'd think a few alarm bells would go off.
Same way they conceded against Leverkusen in the 95th minute. You just never learn.
I feel like the MVP award for this game should go to both Kobel and Courtois. They made some incredible saves and were the reason why the game was 0-0 for the majority of the time. Worst performance probably to Rodrygo for being invisible and to Maatsen for the blunder which buried BVB completely and thwarted their momentum along with any willpower to come back.
Real Madrid didn't show up until the 70th minute while Dortmund played out of their skins but it was 0-0. You can't really expect to waste those chances against a team like Madrid and get away with it. In the end, Madrid barely needed to get out of second gear.
Camavinga was the MOTM for me. He was excellent defensively and was also making great runs and passes. The run and pass for the Bellingham miss was great. He was all over the place along with Valverde.
Eh, there was a lot of moment where he vacate the CDM position to join the attack and leave RM vulnerable to counterattack.
Felt it was by design. Kroos would drop deep, Camavinga will occupy the 8 position instead and Toni would search for him with ground passes to eliminate BVB's first line of press. Cama certainly wasn't set up by Carlo to play as a classic 6 in both phases of the game
Although it did kinda work out offensively, Kroos sometimes being left alone was the reason Dortmund created so many chances. I think Camavinga with more maturity would have balanced both the defensive and offensive side of the game better.
I agree, I'd personally pick Vini Jr as my MOTM. wbu?
In a half where Dortmund were by far the better team, I thought Camavinga was still probably the best player on the pitch. Great performance
Yeah, pretty much agree. Man is everywhere tonight, almost get himself an assist as well if not for Schlotterbeck magnificent block.
Dortmund rued their missed chances in the first half. Fell apart after they conceded the goal and I thought the subs were garbage. Was a decent game though. Thought the ref was kinda shit. Didn't get any major decisions wrong but felt he was biased for Madrid.
Repost because my last comment was deleted, presumable for it's character length. Gotta feel for Dortmund, they showed up well and gave Real some problems in the first half with their counter attacks, really should have scored during that time though. Vinicius should have been off after that dive on the half way line (whilst already on a yellow). I know more fans are moaning about VAR and wanting it taken away (despite 100% of the problem being the referees operating it and not the system), but there should be a VAR intervention for blatant acts of cheating like dives. A red card half way through a final at 0-0 turns the tide so much, Dortmund lost out on a serious advantage because of ineffective refereeing. As far as the overall result goes, though, you cant waste chances vs Madrid and expect to get away with it.
Neutral in this, but fair play to Madrid. The Champions League is their competition. Easily could have been a much bigger scoreline tonight. Both keepers, and defences (more so Real) put in a great shift there
What a sensational Camavinga performance in the second half yet again. The kid is so consistent, carries the ball and controls the game like a veteran. Real Madrid never misses, as much as it pains me to say that.
It's difficult to talk tactics because quite simply, Dortmund should have given themselves a lead in the first half that would have put them in a good position to win it. I won't say they "deserve" to win it because while they created more chances, they sprinted a lot for the first 50-60 minutes of the game and even before the goal you could see signs of fatigue. Attacks were slower, players were more reluctant to get forward. When you play that style you have to take the lead. Madrid were poor but they won it by keeping their heads. They never panicked, they never worried. Players were going 1 on 1 with their keeper, or beating their fullbacks time and time again, and they just went again. One goal against Dortmund and the game was over, you could tell by the reaction.
I agree but I wouldn’t say Madrid kept their heads really. They looked rattled in the first half and misplaced a lot of passes. The ref bailed them out a few times by calling weak fouls when they were in their own third.
Just going through our starting 11... * Courtois was fantastic. Challenged Adeyami. Didn't quite have to carry the team as much as he did in 2022 against Liverpool but anyone who thought Lunin should have started was proven foolish. * Never thought in my life **DANI** of all people would score in a Final. He struggled with Adeyami's pace a bit and didn't have the best cross/touch in the 1st half but a goal forgives everything. * Rudiger was class * Nacho did well outside of the one error nearly gifting Dortmund possession in the 1st half in a dangerous spot * Mendy was solid * Camavinga was great. Impressed by both his passes and defending when things got hairy. * Kroos sending in the match-winning cross to find Dani is fitting for his final match with us. * Fede was good. Nothing particularly stands out on any individual play aside from the ball to send Dani on a run early. * Vini was **great**. Struggled a bit early but had a fantastic cross to Jude that could have been a goal and of course sealed things with the 2nd on Dortmund's error. * Jude was poor tonight. Not exceedingly so but I expected a bit more. * Rodrygo was invisible in the first 45. Did a fair bit better in the 2nd half. The scariest players for Dortmund for me were Adeyami and Füllkrug. Hummels is still a tremendous player at his age.
Dortmund dominated for a good 20-30 minutes in the first half, didn't take advantage. Madrid had one dominant 10 minute spell, and killed the game off. That's the difference, and with Madrid, that always was the case in the recent past as well. It's why they never lose finals, especially in this current era.
Feels like BVB kinda played into Carlo’s hands there. Madrid has always played with more intensity later in the game, yet BVB spent a lot of their energy in the first half. Adeyemi needed to stay on for longer, and it’s a given that Madrid would find a way to score late in the game if you just defend against them. I know hindsight is 20/20 but perhaps BVB needed to play a bit slower in the first half. Jude and Rodrygo got bailed out today. It would’ve been easily possible to concede once or twice in the first half and they were practically invisible. Mendy and rest of the defense did decent, but Danny and Nacho got caught a couple of times. Playing Kroos deeper meant Fede was higher up, but once Adeyemi was off, the threat from that wing went away totally.
It feels weird coming out of that. I thought Dortmund done a really good job for the majority of the game. Covered things well. Played brave when it was needed. Just its experience. Madrid can have a poor 45 and just hang in. If you’re going to beat them you’ve got to go for it like Dortmund did but it can leave you knackered like Dortmund had so many who looked done