June 1, 2024. Wembley Stadium was a yellow wall of noise. If you watched the 2024 Champions League final, you probably remember the first sixty minutes being a complete blur of Borussia Dortmund chances. It felt weird. It felt like the script had been flipped. Usually, Real Madrid dictates the tempo of these massive European nights, but there was Karim Adeyemi, sprinting past Dani Carvajal like he wasn't even there.
Honestly, Dortmund should have been three goals up by halftime. Niclas Füllkrug hit the post. Adeyemi rounded Thibaut Courtois but took the heaviest touch in the history of heavy touches. It was agonizing to watch if you're a BVB fan. But if you’ve followed Madrid for any length of time, you knew exactly what was coming.
The 2024 Champions League final wasn't just another game. It was the "Decimocuarta" plus one—the 15th title for the Kings of Europe. It was also the end of an era. Toni Kroos’s final club match. Marco Reus’s goodbye to the club he loved. It was heavy. It was emotional. And for about an hour, it looked like the underdog was actually going to pull it off.
Why Dortmund’s Tactics Nearly Broke Madrid
Edin Terzić did something most managers are too scared to do against Carlo Ancelotti. He gave them the ball. Dortmund sat in a mid-block and basically dared Madrid to pass through them. When Madrid inevitably lost possession, Dortmund exploded.
The speed of Julian Brandt and Jadon Sancho on the counter-attack was terrifying. Every time Mats Hummels—who played the game of his life, by the way—intercepted a pass, he was immediately looking for the long ball. It worked. Madrid’s high line was exposed repeatedly.
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But football is a game of moments, not "almosts."
You've probably heard the term "Real Madrid DNA." People use it when they can't explain why Madrid wins games they have no business winning. It's not magic. It’s a psychological resilience that borders on the delusional. Even when Courtois was making point-blank saves, the Madrid players didn't look panicked. They looked bored. They knew the goal was coming.
The Turning Point: 74 Minutes of Waiting
Then came the corner.
Toni Kroos, in his final act of brilliance for the Merengues, whipped in a ball that seemed to have its own GPS. Dani Carvajal, one of the shortest guys on the pitch, rose up and flicked it home. 1-0.
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Just like that, the air left Wembley.
Dortmund’s spirit didn't just break; it evaporated. A few minutes later, Jude Bellingham—playing against his old club—pounced on a terrible mistake from Ian Maatsen. He fed Vinícius Júnior. Vini doesn't miss those. 2-0. Game over.
What We Learned About Modern Football
This match proved that stats are often liars. Dortmund had an xG (Expected Goals) that far outweighed Madrid’s for the majority of the night. But big games are decided by big players in small windows.
- Toni Kroos is irreplaceable. His ability to dictate the temperature of a match is a lost art. He completed 94% of his passes in his final game. Let that sink in.
- Thibaut Courtois is a cheat code. Coming back from an ACL injury to start a final is a massive risk. Ancelotti took it. It paid off.
- The "Ancelotti Way" works. There’s no complex tactical manifesto. There’s just trust. He trusts his players to solve problems on the pitch.
The Legacy of the 2024 Final
We’ll look back at this game as the bridge between two eras. It was the swan song for the Kroos-Modric dominance and the official coronation of Vinícius Júnior as a Ballon d'Or frontrunner. It also served as a brutal reminder for teams like Dortmund: against Real Madrid, if you don’t kill the game when you have the chance, the game will kill you.
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The atmosphere in London was electric, but the result felt inevitable. Madrid has now won nine consecutive finals in this competition. That isn't luck. It's a systemic habit of winning.
For those looking to understand how to apply the lessons of the 2024 Champions League final to their own analysis or even amateur coaching, look at the composure under pressure. Madrid didn't change their system when they were under the cosh; they trusted their fitness and their individual quality.
Next Steps for Deep Diving into the 2024 Season:
To truly grasp the tactical nuances of that night at Wembley, you should analyze the heat maps of Dani Carvajal and Federico Valverde. While Vini Jr. took the headlines, Valverde’s defensive cover-up for Carvajal's forward runs was the only reason Adeyemi didn't score in the first half.
You should also look into the post-match tactical breakdowns provided by UEFA’s Technical Observer group. They highlight how Madrid shifted from a 4-3-1-2 to a more rigid 4-4-2 in the second half to negate Sancho's influence on the wing. Studying these subtle shifts is the best way to understand how the 2024 Champions League final was won in the mind before it was won on the grass.
Finally, keep an eye on how Borussia Dortmund restructures. Their run to the final was a miracle of scouting and grit, but losing Hummels and Reus in the same window means the "Dortmund model" is about to face its toughest test yet. The 2024 final was their peak; now comes the rebuild.