How underdogs Borussia Dortmund reached the Champions League final while finishing fifth in Bundesliga

Happy Memorial Day! After several teams won some new silverware over the weekend, the European season is winding down and all eyes are quickly turning to the finale — Saturday’s Champions League final at Wembley Stadium. I’m Pardeep Cattry to kick things off ahead of a big week with a look at the latest.

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⚽ The Forward Line

🏆 Happy Champions League final week

Final preparations are officially underway for Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final, which will see Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid hit the pitch at London’s Wembley Stadium to be crowned champions of Europe. This marks the eighth time Wembley will host the showcase, but it is not just familiar territory for the Champions League trophy — it was also the site of Dortmund’s last appearance in the final back in 2013, when they lost 2-1 to Bayern Munich.

They were the underdogs 11 years ago, and will be again on Saturday, but the differences between the two finalists feel much more magnified this time around. Bayern may have won the Bundesliga that year, but they had to snap a two year title-winning streak from Dortmund, then managed by Jurgen Klopp, to do so. This season, Dortmund finished fifth in the Bundesliga and are up against a Real Madrid team that cruised to victory in La Liga and have outpowered just about every team standing in their way in Europe.

Dortmund are fully chasing a redemption arc after their last disappointment at Wembley, though, and have spent the entire Champions League season making the case that they have what it takes. Topping a group with Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Newcastle United was the first sign of their true mettle, while the ability to recover from a first leg deficit in their quarterfinal win over Atletico Madrid and their tactical superiority in the semifinals over PSG solidified it. Dortmund have quietly demonstrated an impressive ability to compete at Europe’s top levels this summer, and will travel to London with a handful of players who are ready to do damage.

The team’s attack has been its strength during this run to the final, almost resembling Real Madrid’s ability to overcome their defensive shortcomings by outscoring the opponent. Marcel Sabitzer has been key with five assists, leading the Champions League in that category, while Julian Brandt ranks in the top five for chances created with 24 while also posting 11 assists in the Bundesliga this season. The addition of Jadon Sancho, who joined in the winter on loan from Manchester United, has also helped quite a bit — he completed 12 take-ons in Dortmund’s 1-0 victory over PSG in the first leg of the semifinals, becoming the first Englishman to do so in a Champions League match.

That’s good news against a Real Madrid that averages 1.22 goals against per game in Champions League play this season, but the German side will need to be at their best to take advantage of the opponent’s somewhat porous defense. Dortmund rank midtable for goals per game (1.42), expected goals per game (1.27) and shots per game (13.17) in the Champions League this season, but as their improbable run proves, there’s no reason to count them out just yet.

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🔴🔵 Barcelona win back-to-back UWCL titles

While the countdown continues on the men’s final, Barcelona won their second UEFA Women’s Champions League final on Saturday in Bilbao, beating Lyon 2-0 in a match that feels like a turning point in the women’s game in Europe.

Barcelona out-possessed Lyon but both sides had their chances, with each taking 14 shots over the course of the 90 minutes. The back-to-back champions proved to be more clinical, though, taking five shots on goal to Lyon’s two and eventually scoring the game’s only goals. Aitana Bonmati added to her credentials as the world’s best player by scoring the opening goal in the 63rd minute, while Alexia Putellas sealed the deal in the fifth minute of stoppage time, a nice reward after a season of struggles after undergoing knee surgery in December.

The Champions League victory allowed Barcelona to complete the quadruple after winning the domestic league, cup and Super Cup and also served as a fitting send-off to manager Jonatan Giraldez, who will now head to the NWSL to join the third-place Washington Spirit. The final also marked the first time Barcelona beat Lyon, who were the gold standard of the women’s game in Europe with eight Champions League titles. Lucy Bronze, who was part of Barcelona’s back-to-back triumph and won three other Champions League titles with Lyon, was arguably the perfect person to reflect on the changing of the tide.

• Bronze: “We knew we needed to be a club that made history. It’s not easy, it’s hard to win it once, but to do it back to back, Lyon showed how difficult it is. This team’s finally done that. We go down in history as one of the best teams in Europe.”

Though the Barcelona side includes top-tier talent from outside of Spain like England’s Bronze and Keira Walsh and Norway’s Caroline Graham Hansen, the core of the group is made up of local talent that has quickly risen to the top of the women’s game. Bonmati and Putellas were part of the Spain team that won last year’s Women’s World Cup and are no doubt the favorites to win the gold medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris. Spain and Barcelona’s reign of dominance go hand-in-hand and are showing no signs of slowing down.

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💵 Best bets

• UEFA Champions League final: Borussia Dortmund vs. Real Madrid, Saturday, 3 p.m.
  💰 THE PICK: Sebastien Haller to score (+300) — A feature of Dortmund’s attack this season is the goalscoring responsibilities have been split up amongst the group, with no one scoring more than three goals so far in the Champions League season. That doesn’t mean several players have not delivered in important moments and that includes Sebastien Haller, whose lone goal in Europe this season so far came in Dortmund’s 2-1 loss at Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the quarterfinals. It provided the foundation for their 4-2 comeback at home in the second leg and means he enters the final with the best odds of any Dortmund player to score at Wembley.

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