Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid Head-to-Head Stats – 3W : 5D : 8L

The location of Borussia Dortmund in Germany and Real Madrid in Spain might lead you to think that they two teams haven’t played each other very often, but you’d be wrong. Sure, they haven’t gone up against one another as often as, say, Dortmund have played Bayern Munich or Real have taken on Barcelona, but there are certainly more games between the two sides than we’d come to expect.
That is a signal of how well the two of them have done in the Champions League, meeting both in the group stages and during the knockout part of the competition. In fact, they haven’t met competitively in any other tournament.
Past Results
First things first, here is a look at the competitive games that the two teams have faced one another in, including when the matches took place, where they were played and what the final score was:
Date | Competition | Location | Final Score |
---|---|---|---|
01/04/1998 | Champions League Semi-Final First Leg | Santiago Bernabéu | Real Madrid 2-0 Borussia Dortmund |
15/04/1998 | Champions League Semi-Final Second Leg | Westfalenstadion | Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Real Madrid |
19/02/2003 | Champions League Group Game | Santiago Bernabéu | Real Madrid 2-1 Borussia Dortmund |
25/02/2003 | Champions League Group Game | Westfalenstadion | Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Real Madrid |
24/10/2012 | Champions League Group Game | Westfalenstadion | Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Real Madrid |
06/11/2012 | Champions League Group Game | Santiago Bernabéu | Real Madrid 2-2 Borussia Dortmund |
24/04/2013 | Champions League Semi-Final First Leg | Westfalenstadion | Borussia Dortmund 4-1 Real Madrid |
30/04/2013 | Champions League Semi-Final Second Leg | Santiago Bernabéu | Real Madrid 2-0 Borussia Dortmund |
02/04/2014 | Champions League Quarter-Final First Leg | Santiago Bernabéu | Real Madrid 3-0 Borussia Dortmund |
08/04/2014 | Champions League Quarter-Final Second Leg | Westfalenstadion | Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Real Madrid |
27/09/2016 | Champions League Group Game | Westfalenstadion | Borussia Dortmund 2-2 Real Madrid |
07/12/2016 | Champions League Group Game | Santiago Bernabéu | Real Madrid 2-2 Borussia Dortmund |
26/09/2017 | Champions League Group Game | Westfalenstadion | Borussia Dortmund 1-3 Real Madrid |
06/12/2017 | Champions League Group Game | Santiago Bernabéu | Real Madrid 3-2 Borussia Dortmund |
01/06/2024 | Champions League Final | Wembley Stadium | Borussia Dortmund 0-2 Real Madrid |
22/10/2024 | Champions League Group Game | Santiago Bernabéu | Real Madrid 5-2 Borussia Dortmund |
Major Games
Having played against one another numerous times over the years, it is fair to say that Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid have taken part in some cracking matches. We are going to ignore the Champions League group games that they’ve taken part in, simply because they aren’t really all that consequential to the overall outcome of the competition.
Obviously this means ignoring some high-scoring games, including a seven-goal thriller in the October of 2024.
Here is a look at those Champions League knockout games:
Champions League Final – 01/06/2024
There is no greater club match that can be played than the Champions League final, with Borussia Dortmund’s journey to it seeming inevitable from the moment that Wembley Stadium was confirmed as the host venue. Having lost to Bayern Munich there more than a decade before when Jürgen Klopp was manager, Die Borussen were keen to right that particular wrong. The problem that they faced was that the opposition in the final was Real Madrid, the side that have won it more than any other by some distance. Given the fact that Carlo Ancelotti was extending his own record of final appearances, things didn’t look good.
https://www.tiktok.com/@hon.aep/video/7449775905196756270
Dortmund had knocked out PSV Eindhoven, Atlético Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain en-route to the final, whilst Real had taken on RB Leipzig, Manchester City and Bayern Munich. The two sides had already enjoyed success against clubs from the country they were facing in the final, therefore. The first-half proved to be a rather tense affair, with Dortmund having the better of it thanks to a clearance off the line and a shot that struck the post. When you don’t take chances against Madrid, however, you’re liable to suffer, which is exactly what happened with they took the lead after 74 minutes and sealed the win nine minutes later.
Champions League Semi-Finals – 01/04/1998 & 15/04/1998
Given the fact that the action pretty much all happened in the first-leg, it is only right to group these two games together. That first-leg was played at the Santiago Bernabéu, with 85,000 people in attendance. Having knocked out their fierce German rivals Bayern Munich in the previous round, there was a sense of optimism within the Dortmund camp heading into the game, only for the home side to dispel that fairly quickly. It was just past the 20-minute mark when Fernando Morientes score the first goal of the game with Madrid’s first attempt on target, sending the home supporters wild and challenging the away team.
There was no response, with Dortmund struggling to even muster a shot on target. To make matters worse, when Real managed a second shot on target of their own they scored from it. It meant that they took a 2-0 lead to the Westfalenstadion, where an even more boring game was played out. There were more yellow cards than goals, meaning that Real Madrid managed to secure their passage to the Champions League final. They played Juventus at the Amsterdam Arena, winning 1-0 thanks to a goal from Predrag Mijatović after 66 minutes, undoubtedly leading Dortmund supporters to wonder what might have been.
Champions League Semi-Final First-Leg – 24/04/2013
Having faced Real Madrid in the Champions League four times since their semi-final defeat in 1998, Borussia Dortmund had only managed one win against the Spaniards. It is fair to say, therefore, that they were out for revenge against a team that they had played more than once but never really mastered. Things were very much about to change, however, with Real turning up to the Westfalenstadion at a time when Robert Lewandowski was in a goal-scoring mood. The Germans had already knocked Shakhtar Donetsk and Málaga out of the competition in the round of 16 and quarter-finals respectively, but this was on another level.
Robert Lewandowski has been one consistent striker in the last 10+ yrs.
He scored 4 goals vs Real Madrid in 2013. No player had ever scored a hat-trick vs Real Madrid in a UCL match or 4 in a UCL semi.
Tonight he is doing it for Barcelona at Bernabeu.pic.twitter.com/G0bLEbxt0K
— Kyama (@ElijahKyama_) October 26, 2024
Few knew much about Lewandowski when he signed for Die Borussen, yet Jürgen Klopp was turning him into a household name. It was just eight minutes into the game when the Polish forward scored his first, with Cristiano Ronaldo pulling one back for Madrid two minutes before half-time. That proved to be a false dawn, though, thanks to a second-half hat-trick from Lewandowski that took both the game and the tie away from the Spanish side. He scored after 50 minutes, then five minutes later before netting a penalty in the 66th minute. Advantage Dortmund in the semi-final, with more excitement still to come.
Champions League Semi-Final Second-Leg – 30/04/2013
Having comfortably won the first-leg, Dortmund were confident heading into the second, even if they were extremely wary of what Real Madrid could do in the competition. The fact that the Spanish side had scored an away goal at the Westfalenstadion also meant that they were well-placed to be able to take the game to their opponents in front of just over 69,000 people inside the Santiago Bernabéu. English referee and future head of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited Howard Webb was in charge, having little of note to do in a game that had nothing worth mentioning taking place in a first-half that finished 0-0.
@rma15ucltrophies Dortmund vs. Real 0-2 Championsleague Finale #foryou #fy #dortmund #realmadrid
The second-half also started quite dully, with José Mourinho’s Real Madrid team pushing for a goal against a team that was reluctant to give one up. The longer the half went on, the more the scoreboard pressure was working against the Spanish team. It took until the 83rd minute for them to get a breakthrough, which appeared to arrive a little too late to make a difference. Karim Benzema smashed home Mesut Özil’s cross, with a second coming five minutes later. This time Benzema turned provider and Sergio Ramos scored, maintaining Real’s 40-game unbeaten run. They couldn’t find a third, however, meaning Dortmund won 4-3 on aggregate.
Champions League Quarter-Final First-Leg – 02/04/2014
Having made the final by defeating Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final the previous year, only to lose to Bayern Munich in the final, Jürgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund side travelled to the Santiago Bernabéu believing that they could make it past the Spanish side once more. Any hopes that they could frustrate the home side in the first-half as they had done almost a year before were immediately dashed, however, thanks to a goal from Gareth Bale after just three minutes of the game. Having appeared in the semi-finals of the previous three Champions League campaigns, it was the boost Madrid needed to do so again.
📅 #OTD day in 2014 at the Bernabéu, Real Madrid 3-0 Dortmund…
⚽️ Bale, Isco, Ronaldo @realmadriden | #UCL pic.twitter.com/R03Igo735P
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) April 2, 2021
A low shot from Isco 24 minutes later sent the home supporters delirious, knowing as they did that it would be all but impossible for the German opposition to respond if they didn’t manage to get an away goal. Klopp’s men seemed to know that too, pushing for a goal that might rescue the tie, only to concede a third in the 57th minute. This time it was Cristiano Ronaldo on the scoresheet, marking his 100th appearance in the Champions League with a goal. He was one-on-one with Roman Weidenfellar and shifted the ball to his left before rolling it into the net. Real won the first-leg 3-0, meaning it was an uphill battle for Dortmund.
Champions League Quarter-Final Second-Leg – 08/04/2014
With a place in the semi-finals on offer, Borussia Dortmund knew that they would need to soak up the power of the Yellow Wall, as they had less than 12 months before, in order to get past Real Madrid. It was always unlikely that the Spanish giants were going to give up a 3-0 lead, especially without an away goal to lean on, with the task looking like even more of an impossible one when Real won a penalty early in the game. That would have put the tie to bed, only for Angel Di Maria to miss it and bring the Westfalenstadion to life. If there’s one thing you don’t want to do in Germany, it is give the Dortmund fans something to cheer.
When Marco Reus found the net after 24 minutes, Madrid must have been fearing the worst. All too away of how free-scoring Die Borussen could be after seeing Robert Lewandowski score four against them the previous season, Real may well have been concerned about a repeat of that when Reus scored his second just 13 minutes later. In the end, though, the damage had been done in the first-leg. In spite of the spirited attempts of the home team to make something happen, Madrid held on and booked their place in the final. That was against their city rivals, which Real won 4-1 after extra-time against Atlético Madrid.