Real Madrid v Borussia Dortmund: Champions League match preview

A look ahead to Wednesday night’s quarter-final first leg fixture at Santiago Bernabeu

Nik Brumsack
Wednesday 02 April 2014 13:16 BST
Comments
Borussia Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski celebrates after scoring a goal against Zenit Saint Petersburg during their UEFA Champions League Champions League last 16, first-leg football match
Borussia Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski celebrates after scoring a goal against Zenit Saint Petersburg during their UEFA Champions League Champions League last 16, first-leg football match (GETTY IMAGES)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

These sides should be familiar enough with each other - after all, they met at the semi-final stage in last season’s competition. It was Dortmund that progressed to the final, surviving a tense final few minutes at the Bernabeu after Robert Lewandowski’s brilliance had set up a 4-1 first-leg win.

Plenty has changed since then. Carlo Ancelotti, Gareth Bale and Isco are among those to have joined Madrid while Dortmund have sold Mario Gotze to Bayern Munich and have suffered with injuries for large chunks of the 2013/14 campaign.

Under Ancelotti, Real embarked on a 31-match unbeaten run in all competitions between October 13 and March 23. Recent back-to-back defeats against Barcelona and Sevilla have disrupted that momentum somewhat but they are unbeaten in the Champions League since the defeat at Signal Iduna Park and eased past Dortmund’s rivals Schalke 04 to reach the last eight.

Jurgen Klopp’s side have seen the gap between themselves and runaway league-leaders Bayern Munich grow this season and left it late to qualify from a difficult group which included Napoli and Arsenal. A 5-4 aggregate victory against Zenit St Petersburg in the last 16 followed but Real will provide a much sterner test.

Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid lies on the ground after being tackled during the La Liga defeat to Sevilla
Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid lies on the ground after being tackled during the La Liga defeat to Sevilla (GETTY IMAGES)

KICK-OFF: Wednesday, 7.45pm

PAST THREE MEETINGS:

Real Madrid 2 (Benzema, Ramos) Dortmund 0, Champions League, April 30, 2013

Dortmund 4 (Lewandowski 4) Real Madrid 1 (Ronaldo), Champions League, April 23, 2013

Real Madrid 2 (Pepe, Ozil) Dortmund 2 (Reus, Arbeloa og), Champions League, November 2012

STATS…

Cristiano Ronaldo is the top scorer in the Champions League this season (13).

Real have won only one of the last five games between the teams.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side went 31 games unbeaten in all competitions earlier in the season.

Dortmund have scored in 10 of their last 12 Champions League games - with Real one of the sides to have kept a clean sheet against Jurgen Klopp’s team.

ODDS…

Real Madrid to win: 1.36

Dortmund to win: 8.00

Draw: 5.00

CLASSIC MATCH…

Borussia Dortmund 4-1 Real Madrid, April 24, 2013

Robert Lewandowski was simply sensational when the teams met in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final last season. The Pole caused Madrid’s backline problems all evening - giving Dortmund an early lead and then scoring three times in 11 second-half minutes. The performance - one of the most memorable in last season’s competition - went a long way to sealing Dortmund’s first appearance in a Champions League final since 1997.

TV: Live on Sky Sports 4 at 7.45pm.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in