Borussia Dortmund got off to a great start against the defending champions in the Champions League. In the end, BVB still ended up without a point. Real showed tremendous comeback qualities.

Strong start, bitter end – Borussia Dortmund also missed a surprise in the rematch of the Champions League final against Real Madrid. Almost five months after the unfortunate 0:2 in the showdown at Wembley, the previous leaders of the Champions League lost 2:5 (2:0) to the defending champions from Spain in the third preliminary round match.

Unlike recently in the Bundesliga, BVB played courageously in the first half in front of 85,000 spectators in the Bernabéu football temple and could hope for their first victory against the Spanish record champions after the two goals from Donyell Malen (30th minute) and Jamie Gittens (34th). But the defending champions struck back in an inimitable manner and turned the game around with goals from Antonio Rüdiger (60th), Vinícius Júnior (62nd/86th/90th+3) and Lucas Vázquez (83rd).

Nevertheless, Borussia’s starting position remains acceptable after a successful start to the competition with victories over Bruges (3-0) and Celtic Glasgow (7-1). The next opponent is Sturm Graz on November 5th in Dortmund.

Football coach Sahin showed courage for the favorites and banned the previous regulars Waldemar Anton, Pascal Groß and Emre Can from the starting eleven. Niklas Süle, Felix Nmecha and Gittens, who were brought into the team in their place, were supposed to provide new momentum after the recent weak Bundesliga games.

In front of the eyes of Dortmund’s previous coach Edin Terzic, who was now watching the game as a fan, BVB started with commitment and had the first shot on goal early on. However, Serhou Guirassy’s shot was too central to pose any problems for Thibaut Courtois in the hosts’ goal. On the other side, Nmecha blocked the first promising attempt by superstar Kylian Mbappé.

Borussia played it cleverly. Dortmund kept the ball for long periods of time and thus controlled the game. This paid off. The club avoided mistakes by building up the ball too hectically, hardly allowed Real to get into transition situations and even took advantage of its few chances.

After a mistake by Vázquez in the Real penalty area, Guirassy held onto the ball strongly with his back to the goal. The center forward passed it precisely to Malen and the Dutchman made the BVB fans who had traveled with him cheer. And it got even better for the Black and Yellows. Malen broke through on the right, passed flat into the middle, where Gittens escaped the Madrid defense and scored to make it 2-0.

The crossbar helps BVB

Now things got wild. Real reacted with furious attacks. Within a few seconds, first Rodrygo and then ex-Dortmund player Jude Bellingham hit the crossbar (29th minute). On the other side, Julian Brandt failed with a powerful long-range shot against Courtois.

After the break, Real increased the pressure. Sahin brought on Anton as an additional defender for winger Gittens, but it didn’t help. The hosts equalized with two goals in a very short space of time. First, German international Rüdiger headed in from close range, then Vinícius Júnior completed an attack after involuntary preparatory work by Nico Schlotterbeck to make it 2-2.

BVB seemed to have suffered a morale blow, Madrid had an upswing. Dortmund could no longer even begin to build on the controlled performance of the first 45 minutes. Almost logically, Real won the match in the closing stages with three goals. Vinícius Júnior became the match winner.