Finale! Champions League: BVB – Real Madrid today live on free TV, stream, ticker

Eleven years after reaching the final, Borussia Dortmund is once again aiming for the trophy in the Champions League final. The match will be played in London’s Wembley Stadium, as it is today. But unlike then, the Black and Yellows don’t want to leave empty-handed this time.

The task could hardly be greater, with Real Madrid, the dominant force in the premier class, waiting for BVB (at 9 p.m. in the LIVETICKER). The Spanish champions have never lost a final in their favorite competition. As a result, the Royals have enormous self-confidence and announced their starting eleven two and a half hours before kick-off – with no surprises and with the Germans starting Toni Kroos and Antonio Rüdiger.

BVB took a lot more time. Around an hour and a half after Madrid, the Bundesliga team announced its line-up. Marco Reus will be on the bench in his last game for Dortmund. Instead, Jadon Sancho, Karim Adeyemi and Niclas Füllkrug will be up front. Donyell Malen is also on the bench.

“It was a close decision. I spoke to both of them (Adeyemi and Malen; editor’s note) on Tuesday and picked up my thoughts and told them that I don’t necessarily see one of them being on the pitch for 90 or 120 minutes,” said coach Terzic, explaining his decision for Adeyemi before the match at ZDF.

He is sure “that the starting eleven on the pitch today will put in a really good performance and bring us a good result. And the guys who come in when we then step up our game – that’s what we need. When we play against Real Madrid, we don’t just need eleven players who can keep up, we need guys who we can substitute on who can tip the momentum in our direction.”

There are no surprises in defence either. Mats Hummels starts alongside Nico Schlotterbeck in the back four in front of goalkeeper Gregor Kobel. Ian Maatsen and Julian Ryerson defend on the outside.

Emre Can, Marcel Sabitzer and Julian Brandt start in midfield. Coach Terzic is therefore relying on the team that impressed in the first and second leg against Paris in the semi-finals.

• Dortmund: Kobel – Ryerson, Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Maatsen – Can – Sabitzer, Brandt – Sancho, Adeyemi – Füllkrug
• Madrid: Courtois – Carvajal, Rüdiger, Nacho, Mendy – Camavinga – Valverde, Kroos – Bellingham – Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior

“London is calling – again!” said sporting director Sebastian Kehl, who lost to FC Bayern Munich as a player in 2013. “We have a score to settle: in this stadium. In this city. In this final.” The few remaining protagonists of the last final are eager for their second chance. Mats Hummels. Marco Reus. Hans-Joachim Watzke. Nuri Sahin. Sven Bender.

“Now,” said Reus before his very last BVB game, “we have to win. Otherwise it would be shit.” The Dortmund icon hopes to get his golden farewell – the one that Toni Kroos, the five-time Champions League winner, would be denied at Real. When will he score the winning goal? “70th or 89th minute,” said Reus at the media day with a wink.

The club has long since made itself comfortable in the corner of the clear underdog. “Madrid is the overwhelming favorite, but that’s exactly what we love,” said club boss Watzke, referring to Bayer Leverkusen’s defeat in the Europa League final. “Look at what just happened in Dublin! Atalanta Bergamo played as if it were the last game of their lives. That’s what you have to do to win.” The title, he told SID, “would mean everything to me!”

As is well known, Real, the “champion of champions, the absolute final opponent”, as coach Edin Terzic calls the Royals, has never lost a Champions League final. The last defeat in a major final was in 1983, when Terzic was six months old. But: “There’s always a first time,” as Watzke swears.

That’s what they’ve been telling themselves for days. “In one game, in 90 or 120 minutes, this team can beat any opponent,” assures Terzic, who must try to outcoach the old fox Carlo Ancelotti in the mystical temple of football. If they succeed, Reus dreamed, “I can’t even imagine what would happen in Dortmund the next day.”

However, no one wants to worry about the entry in the city’s Golden Book or the triumphal procession across Borsigplatz in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators. Stay calm, keep control, in keeping with Terzic’s motto: “Don’t play the occasion, play the game!” Don’t play the Champions League final, just play football. “The boys have to do what they’ve done all their lives for 90 minutes,” emphasised Reus. Kicking.

The team will definitely go to bed “with a huge smile” before the big day, announced Kehl. Especially since BVB “cannot emerge from this final as a loser,” emphasised Watzke, “but only as the very, very big winner.”

The BVB boss, who refused to watch the dramatic Bayern game again for eleven years, noticed a change immediately after the semi-final triumph against Paris St. Germain. “The number of your friends increases immeasurably,” he said. “If they notice that I don’t have any tickets, they quickly become your enemies.”

BVB could have sold more than 400,000 tickets for Wembley, and thousands of fans beyond the 25,000 quota will be sitting in the pubs on Saturday evening, shaking and praying – that Julian Ryerson can stop the incredibly fast Vinicius Junior. That Niclas Füllkrug gets a chance against Antonio Rüdiger. That it will somehow be enough. “We have the opportunity to create something for eternity,” says Terzic.

The tension is enormous, the atmosphere in Wembley Stadium will be as tense as it was in 2013. Julian Brandt revealed how to take the excitement in his stride: “Yeah,” he said, “I’ll just sleep in the hotel and play a football match the next day.” If only it were that easy.

—– with sports information service