2024 UEFA Champions League Final: B/R Staff Predictions

It's your classic David vs. Goliath scenario.

In one corner is Real Madrid, 14-time European Cup winners. In the other, plucky Borussia Dortmund, a team that finished fourth in the Bundesliga and a side that no one picked to be in the final at the start of the campaign.

So, which team will it be walking out of Wembley Stadium with the trophy?

The B/R World Football staff was summoned together once again to provide their predictions.

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Wait, wait, wait. Hear me out on this.

Real Madrid are favored; there's simply no avoiding that. It's tough to bet against a team with such a rich European Cup history—and one that just cruised to a La Liga title.

But Borussia Dortmund have been written off since this season's competition began, and they just need to prove people wrong one more time to take the biggest prize in club football back to Germany.

Few expected them to qualify from what was widely considered "the group of death," but they topped their group ahead of Paris Saint-Germain, Milan and Newcastle United. Few expected them to beat Atletico Madrid in the quarterfinals, and even fewer thought they'd topple PSG in the semis.

But here they are, playing in a Champions League final at Wembley just like they did in 2013. This time, though, they'll successfully land that final leap.

A team that has been battle-hardened through the competition will not be a welcome opponent for Real Madrid to face. A traveling Yellow Wall will be raucous, too, making this feel like a home game for the Bundesliga side.

Meanwhile, club legend Marco Reus will be making his Dortmund bow, playing his final game for Dortmund after a 12-year stint. If he can secure Die Schwarzgelben's first Champions League title since 1997, there's a Hollywood ending here. Mats Hummels, who might yet depart as well, will surely want a cameo in that box-office smash

.If you're a believer in fate or retribution, then maybe Dortmund should be grabbing your attention.

Prediction: Dortmund win by a one-goal margin; Reus scores in the closing minutes.

- Leo Collis

I absolutely love the idea of Dortmund's season crescendoing with a Champions League triumph. I would love the idea even more if Marco Reus scores the winner before bowing out. What a beautiful story that would be.

But it's not going to happen.

Real Madrid are more than a step ahead of every team Dortmund has faced in the competition this season.

That "Group of Death" actually included the seventh-best Premier League side, a team that were 19 points off the Serie A title and a PSG group who only won five of their 12 matches in Europe this season; two of which came against an inexperienced Real Sociedad side. Group of Death on paper, Group of Meh in reality.

That's not to downplay Dortmund's quality and tactical nous. Edin Terzić is a smart coach who prepares his team well when he's fortunate to have time. We saw a well-drilled, combative unit against PSG in the semis; a structure that not only allowed Dortmund to continually win the ball back but gave everyone confidence in possession.

It's easy to forget the calibre of chances PSG missed in those two games–not to mention the woodwork is probably still shaking from multiple strikes–so even a close-to-perfect Dortmund allowed their opponents in.

Madrid aren't the type of team to fluff their opportunities in such a spectacular fashion. Carlo Ancelotti has built a winning machine, demonstrated by the two-legged takedown of Manchester City, a side many would pin as the best in the world. They played beautiful football at times, ugly football at others, and held on. It's just what they do.

Dortmund celebrating under the Wembley arch would be brilliant for the competition. A reminder that any club, no matter their domestic struggles, can rise above the rest in knockout football. It's a beautiful script, and the cliches tell us stranger things have happened. It would be most un-Madrid-like to slip so famously, though, so it's hard to see Dortmund's season finding a fairytale end.

- Nick Akerman

Though conventional wisdom says this is Real Madrid's trophy to lose, Borussia Dortmund has gone about its business with stereotypical German efficiency. The Black and Yellow battled their way to the UEFA Champions League Final by beating out the likes of favorites Atlético Madrid and Paris Saint Germain.

Led by the masterful mind of Edin Terzić, Dortmund has shocked the world (although their supporters will feel differently), finding themselves in the final for the first time since 2013. This unlikely Champions League run will hopefully take the sting out of the club's subpar league performance, where Der BVB finished dishearteningly in fifth place.

While playing against Real Madrid in the Champions League Final is the equivalent of asking Dallas Mavericks star Luka Dončić to a game of one-on-one basketball, there's always a chance that Dortmund could muster up just enough gumption to tame Madrid's prowess.

It will be extraordinarily difficult, especially given the momentum Madrid has behind them, but being the underdog is a label that fits this Dortmund team well.

Besides, what better way to give club legend Marco Reus the perfect send-off than a Champions League win?

- Alex Windley

In a dream world, you can make the case that Borussia Dortmund is a team of destiny, cosmically obligated to win the UEFA Champions League Final after a Cinderella run.

And then you wake up and realize they're playing Real Madrid.

You go over all the advanced stats and figures, there's a hard truth to the narrative. Los Blancos own this tournament and have since its inception. Winning the European Cup 14 times doesn't happen by accident. It is ingrained in Madrid's DNA to win the Champions League.

Nothing changes that on Saturday.

But pedigree isn't the only reason Madrid will win. They're simply better.

They have a fierce attack led by Vinicius Junior, who won the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final vs. Liverpool. They have Dortmund's best player from last season and arguably the world's best midfielder in Jude Bellingham. They have a rock-solid defense led by the combative Antonio Rudiger. And they have depth, evidenced by their dramatic semifinal win over Bayern Munich when substitute Joselu came off the bench to rescue the tie.

Dortmund's journey to the Champions League Final has been thrilling and deserved. But unfortunately for them, it ends in tears at Wembley.

- Lucky Ngamwajasat