Real Madrid 5-2 Borussia Dortmund: Hat-trick hero Vinícius denies Champions League final revenge in Bernabéu thriller | OneFootball

Vinícius Júnior scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid came from two goals down to deny Borussia Dortmund revenge after they lost the 2024 European Cup final.

This was the club’s first meeting since their Wembley showdown in June, during which Los Blancos ran out 2-0 winners, and Nuri Şahin’s men were in dreamland, having raced into a 2-0 half-time lead, but Carlo Ancelotti’s side are made of stronger stuff and produced an incredible second-half comeback, winning 5-2 to rub more salt into the German team’s wounds.

In the process, Real Madrid won a match in which they trailed by 2+ goals at the break for the first time in European Cup/UEFA Champions League history.

Donyell Malen broke the deadlock half an hour into the game after Dortmund won possession on the edge of the Madrid penalty area, leading to Serhou Guirassy playing a perfectly weighted pass through to him, and the Dutch forward made no mistake in burying his strike high and powerfully beyond Thibaut Courtois.

The visitors soon doubled their advantage. A move that started with a brilliant cross-field pass from skipper Julian Brandt, and Dortmund worked their way up the pitch, with Malen weaving his way into the box on the right and feeding a low ball across the face of goal for Gittens to run onto at the far post.

He’s now scored three goals in three appearances for BVB in the Champions League this season. This effort also meant he became the youngest Englishman ever to score against Real Madrid in the competition (20y 75d), with Alan Smith being the previous youngest (20y 129d for Leeds United in March 2001).

But you can’t keep the champions down. After a succession of blocked shots from Rodrygo and ex-BVB star Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappé picks out the rising Rüdiger with a cross from the right, and the Madrid No22 heads powerfully past Gregor Kobel to halve the deficit. No sooner had that gone in than Vinícius levelled proceedings with a left-footed finish.

His last five Champions League goals have been scored against Bundesliga teams. He found the net against Leipzig in the 2023/24 round of 16, scored twice against Bayern Munich in the 2023/24 semi-final, once against Dortmund in last season’s final and again against the German side in the league phase tonight.

Just as Dortmund scored twice in four minutes in the first half, Los Blancos netted twice in three minutes to set up a thrilling finale. Having squandered a two-goal lead, momentum was on Real’s side, and Lucas Vázquez and Vinícius (again) completed before extending their sensational comeback. Vinícius would complete a stunning hat-trick with the final kick of the game. This was his first treble in the Champions League, while he’s now been involved in 35 goals in his last 35 starts in the competition (20 goals, 15 assists).

The result also means that BVB must wait to succeed on Real Madrid’s soil as they’ve now failed to win eight Champions League matches away at Spain’s most decorated club (D2 L8), which is historic in its own right as no side has ever played more away Champions League matches at one stadium without winning than Borussia Dortmund at the Santiago Bernabéu.

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