Madrid is a force
It’s common knowledge that Madrid is arguably the best club in the world and they strengthened their squad even more this past summer, signing Kylian Mbappe while youngster Endrick also arrived. While they do sit three points behind Barcelona in the LaLiga standings, there’s no doubting what they can accomplish in 2024-25.
The 15-time Champions League winners are a favorite alongside Manchester City to conquer Europe again after their impressive run last season. Carlo Ancelotti’s men started off the campaign with a 3-1 victory over Stuttgart before a shock 1-0 defeat to Lille on matchday two where they were surprisingly kept off the scoresheet, which rarely happens given their attacking firepower.
Since then, it’s been back-to-back league wins over Villarreal and Celta Vigo. Mbappe and Vinicius Junior produced the goods on Saturday, with the Frenchman adding his sixth goal of the campaign. He’s also scored once in the Champions League. While the defeat to Lille ended a 17-match unbeaten run in the competition, Real hasn’t lost on home soil in the UCL since April of 2022. The hosts will be feeling very confident on Tuesday and sit as a heavy -213 favorite at Betway.
Dortmund is a mixed bag
Last season’s Cinderella run to the Champions League final was nothing short of outstanding, but it’s the only reason they’re back in the competition. Dortmund finished in fifth place in the Bundesliga last term and hasn’t gotten off to the best start domestically in ‘24-25, currently sitting in seventh with a 4-1-2 record, scoring 14 goals but allowing 12. Last Friday was a 2-1 victory over newly promoted St. Pauli.
In the Champions League, however, BVB is thriving. They blanked Club Brugge on matchday one before annihilating Scottish giants Celtic by a score of 7-1 on matchday two. Clearly, Dortmund’s confidence from last season’s competition has carried over. Karim Adeyemi and Serhou Guirassy lead the squad with three UCL goals apiece so far.
Dortmund was keeping up with Madrid until the second half in last season’s final before the Spanish outfit scored twice. This match is a chance at revenge for the Black and Yellows, who once again tasted defeat in the showpiece. However, they’ve never grabbed a victory at the Bernabeu in seven visits. That includes five losses and two draws. You can see why Dortmund is such a big underdog at soccer betting sites.
Injury news
Madrid is heading into this clash with a near-clean bill of health. Only three players are missing through injury – David Alaba, Dani Carvajal, and Brahim Diaz. Carvajal is out for the season after knee surgery. For Dortmund, they will be without Adeyemi, who injured his hamstring in that historic victory over Celtic. Giovanni Reyna, Niklas Sule, Julien Duranville, and Pascal Gross are all dealing with health issues as well.
