Borussia Dortmund vs. Real Madrid: How to watch Champions League online, TV channel, live stream, start time

The Champions League final is here. You can get all the coverage from CBS, Paramount+CBS Sports Golazo Network and CBS Sports Network.

Who’s playing

• Real Madrid @ Borussia Dortmund
• Current records: Real Madrid 8-4-0, Borussia Dortmund 7-3-2

How to watch

• When: Saturday, June 1, 2024 at 3:00 PM ET
• Where: Wembley Stadium
• TELEVISION: CBS
• Follow: CBS Sports app
• Online broadcast: Paramount+

What to know

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The Champions League is back! After a brief break, the final is ready to begin on Saturday. Having advanced past the semi-final, Real Madrid will now face Borussia Dortmund at 3pm ET on June 1st at Wembley Stadium. Real Madrid’s last seven Champions League games have been decided by just one goal, so don’t be surprised if it’s a close game.

Real Madrid enter the competition without defeat and will try to maintain the pace. They had enough and beat Bayern Munich 2-1. Real Madrid better thank their lucky stars for the performance of Joselu, who scored both of his team’s goals.

Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund had already won two consecutive matches (during which time they outscored their opponents by an average of 1.5 goals), and went ahead and scored the third goal on May 7th. They never let PSG get on the board and came out with a 1-0 victory. That’s two games in a row that Borussia Dortmund won by just one goal.

Real Madrid’s victory increased their record to 8-4-0. As for Borussia Dortmund, they have been performing well recently, as they have won four of their last five games, giving their 7-3-2 record in this tournament a good boost.

After a long road, there is only one game left to crown the Champions League champion. Check back here after the game for expert match analysis and other Champions League content.

Chances

Real Madrid are huge favorites against Borussia Dortmund according to the latest Champions League odds, at -163 to win.

The over/under is 2.5 goals.

Other Stats We Like

• The problem with defensive statistics is that some of the best work done without the ball involves preventing any meaningful action from taking place. How many times does an opponent fail to play a long pass into the channel because they know Virgil van Dijk or William Saliba will intimidate their center forward? Still, there is a world to celebrate the active side of defense: hitting the opponent firmly but fairly, shooting the ball, reading the pass before it arrives. Enter Mats Hummels, who leads the Champions League in tackles, interceptions and clearances with the second highest number of ball recoveries. Aaah, you say, but that’s just because he logged more minutes in the tournament. Adjust his numbers to 90, however, and the Borussia Dortmund defender still leads in tackles, ranks third in interceptions and sixth in clearances. His season was a master class in busy defense.
• Shot Goals Added (SGA) is one of those curious metrics. Evaluating the pre- and post-shot xG values, this doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is much more significant on a long time scale than xG itself could be. The best strikers are not necessarily those who hit corners every time – Heung-min Son could say otherwise – but those who keep putting themselves in finishing positions. Yet during the relatively brief lifecycle of a Champions League campaign, the SGA serves a different purpose, highlighting the men whose damn the games had an outsized impact on the tournament. Oh Lautaro Martinez (34 shots, two goals, 5.13 xG, -1.83 SGA), if you had maintained your Serie A performance in the big leagues, there could have been another Champions League final on the line. Fabian Ruiz, we really need you to practice heading.
• Are we seeing a new post-pressure approach at the top of the European game? Even Borussia Dortmund are no longer Jurgen Klopp’s heavy metal practitioners, returning to the promised land of Wembley thanks to tight defensive lines and immaculate off-the-ball form. Manchester City’s 92.4% pass rate is the highest in five years of Champions League football. Real Madrid’s 90.1% ranks third, while PSG, Bayern Munich and Feyenoord were among those who were notably more accurate than in previous years. For the competition as a whole, the pass completion was 83.6%, in pre-COVID 2019-20 it was slightly lower at 82.1%. Similarly, this year teams have won the ball in the central third on 22.6 occasions per game. Five years ago, that was 24.3.
• Perhaps this is partly explained by how long everyone has been waiting. Twenty players have made more than 150 appearances in the history of UEFA club competitions. Four of them – Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, Thomas Muller and Ivan Rakitic – joined the club this season. With all those Champions League appearances, Muller is now level with the ageless Xavi Hernandez on 151 Champions League appearances, just one ahead of his compatriot Toni Kroos, who will retire from club football after Saturday’s final. For now, at least this means that of the 15 players with the most Champions League appearances, 10 are still active. Eight of the top 15 were led by Carlo Ancelotti. This era of football is over about!

Required readings

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