Real Madrid vs. Borussia Dortmund: Match Preview, Odds & Prediction

Held Real Madrid and optimistic Borussia Dortmund rekindle animosity in Tuesday's league phase showdown at the Bernabeu, a replay of the 2023-24 Champions League final.

It has been almost five months since Carlo Ancelotti's side stunned BVB and won the 15th European Cup, leaving the German powerhouses to rue wasted opportunities at Wembley.

Previous Matches and Head-to-head

Despite Dortmund's domination, Real Madrid were able to defeat them in the Champions League for the 15th time last season thanks to two second-half sucker punches. Real Madrid always seems to have the recipe for success in this tournament, no matter how difficult the going gets.

Los Blancos' capabilities have been somewhat diminished this season. They suffered their first defeat in Europe's top tournament since May 2023, when Lille famously won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Jonathan David. This defeat occurred on matchday two of the 2024-25 edition.

Even though they beat Dortmund's Bundesliga rivals Stuttgart 3-1 in their first match, the defending champions are presently 17th in the 36-team standings, meaning they do not have a seeded spot in the knockout Round.

With victories over Villarreal and Celta Vigo in La Liga before the international break, Ancelotti's squad has responded appropriately to that shocking loss to Les Dogues. With Celta Vigo's victory, they briefly tied for first place in the league with leaders Barcelona, whom they will face in El Clasico this coming weekend.

While Real Madrid's 17-month Champions League undefeated streak is over, the Bernabeu has not seen a top-level European home match loss since April 2022. However, they still need to maintain a clean sheet in their previous five continental matches.

Dortmund would be traveling to Madrid this week with Champions League medals slung around their necks if Nuri Sahin's squad had shown the same level of savagery against Real Madrid as they did against Celtic earlier this month. Brendan Rodgers's squad was in utter chaos.

Following Daizen Maeda's early equalizer for Emre Can, Dortmund unleashed a barrage of goals. Karim Adeyemi, who has been linked to Liverpool, scored a hat trick, Serhou Guirassy scored twice, and Felix Nmecha added another goal for the European runners-up of last season.

Thanks to a far better goal differential than the other six teams who have won both of their first two games, Sahin's squad is presently atop the 36-team standings after scoring three unanswered goals against Club Brugge on matchday one.

Dortmund's home form has been inconsistent, in contrast to their impressive play on the European stage. While they narrowly defeated St. Pauli 2-1 last weekend, they have lost their past two Bundesliga away games against Stuttgart (5-1) and Union Berlin (2-1).

No team has ever lost their first eight Champions League games at an away location; Dortmund might potentially establish an undesirable record for most road games in the competition with seven visits to the Bernabeu without a victory, five losses, and two draws.

Real Madrid x Borussia Dortmund Team News

After Kylian Mbappe's full recovery from a muscle injury, Real will be without Dani Carvajal (knee), David Alaba (knee), and Brahim Diaz (abductor), who have all been named as reasonable suspects in rape cases in Sweden, accusations which he denies vehemently.

After Carvajal's season-ending surgery, rumors began circulating that Real may target Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool in January for a transfer. Still, Lucas Vazquez is now holding the fort.

Ferland Mendy might start in place of Fran Garcia right back for the Blancos, while Rodrygo could triumphantly return to the starting lineup, maybe to replace Eduardo Camavinga.

At the same time, Adeyemi's courageous hat trick against Celtic was cut short when the German sustained a severe hamstring injury early in the second half. He will likely be out until late November.

Julien Duranville (thigh), Giovanni Reyna (groin), and Yan Couto (muscle) are all listed as questionable for Dortmund's match against St. Pauli, joining Adeyemi in the injury report. Pascal Gross and Niklas Sule are also on the injury report, and the former must be substituted at halftime.

Nmecha or the promising Jamie Bynoe-Gittens might replace Gross in an emergency; if Bynoe-Gittens starts and scores, he would surpass the record established by Alan Smith, who scored for Leeds United in 2001 at the age of 20, as the youngest English player to score in a UCL match against Real Madrid.

Our Predictions

Real Madrid is to win and under 2.5 goals @ 5.00 on Sky247.ng.

Despite facing Club Brugge and Celtic, who were not nearly as good as Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund has more than compensated for its shortcomings in the Champions League this season. It has learned the hard way what happens if you miss your opportunities against Real Madrid.

Even if there is a single goal in it, BVB's perfect UCL record should be quickly ended at the Bernabeu because Sahin's men have been too inconsistent and weak defensively for us to think that Tuesday's game would have any other conclusion.

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