Real did what Real do best: Win

“When you don’t kill Real Madrid, Real Madrid kill you,” Xavi Hernandez, who had to come up against Real Madrid a number of times in his career both as a Barcelona player and manager, had said just last year.

Borussia Dortmund became the latest side to be stung harshly by this aforementioned reality as they conceded two goals to see Real Madrid do what they do best — win the Champions League for a record-extending 15th time at Wembley on Saturday.

Dortmund had caught the Spanish giants napping in the first half of the final. Edin Terzic’s men were tactically superior, creating the most chances — with Dortmund’s seven attempts to Real’s two during that phase — and did everything right, except for killing the giants when they had them on the ropes.

“We missed out on scoring and then conceded the goal. That’s how they [Real Madrid] always do it,” said Dortmund defender Mats Hummels, who, along with Marco Reus, also had his heart broken in another Champions League final 11 years ago against Bayern Munich at the same venue.

Real Madrid did not look near their best in the first 45 minutes, with Toni Kroos unable to set the tempo, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo not finding a clear way through — and the sole credit for cornering Los Blancos must be given to Dortmund.

With the way Vinicius was attempting to manoeuvre his way past right-back Julian Ryerson, Terzic realised Dortmund needed to change things within the first 20 minutes of the game. He then had his players line up in a three-man backline — Hummels and Nico Schlotterbeck playing a bit wider with Emre Can coming in between to do the dirty work. That helped Ryerson play up the field with the other full-back Ian Maatsen playing more as a playmaker, making the midfield heavy in numbers and closing the gaps to diminish any chance of Real Madrid exploiting while moving forward.

Owing to this tactical genius, Dortmund saw three clear-cut goal-mouth chances. Having been found through Real’s defence, Niclas Fullkrug hit the bar before Karim Adeyemi wasted two golden opportunities.

One of those Adeyemi attempts was parried out by Los Blancos’ goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois — a player who had missed most of the season due to injuries but was backed strongly by Real manager Carlo Ancelotti to start the final. But the best of the lot was when Adeyemi had slipped past Dani Carvajal, went around Courtois, and still was not able to put it into the net with Carvajal running back and amending for his mistake with a sliding block.

Terzic was reduced to saying that his side “deserved a little bit more” but lacked “killer instinct”.

That missing ‘killer instinct’ came back to haunt them, as it so often happens to the opponents of Real Madrid, once Ancelotti’s men came back into the game with much more purpose in the second half.

Ironically, it was Carvajal who put Real ahead from a masterful Toni Kroos corner in the 74th minute, redeeming himself to the point of becoming the first defender to score in a final since Sergio Ramos in 2016 against Atletico Madrid.

What happened next is something very typical — a repeat of the old script of Real killing the game in just a few minutes. Within nine minutes of the first goal, a misplaced pass from Maatsen — perhaps still recounting how they missed those open chances and were a goal down – saw former Dortmund man Jude Bellingham receive the ball and feed it to Vinicius as Real put the final nail in the coffin.

Even Vinicius’ finish was not a clean one, getting bumped off the ground before going past Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel. But the important part is that Real did what Dortmund could not — they killed the game when they had the chance.

Hummels credited Real’s quality of being clinical when needed but also said that “it took them a bit of luck today”. But maybe it is time for Dortmund, Hummels, and all the other clubs including Manchester City, Bayern, PSG, and Chelsea who at least had once to be at the wrong end of a similar storyline that ‘luck’ has very little to do as this is what Real Madrid do — somehow or someway, they win.