They had to believe because Jose Mourinho told them to believe. The 75,000 Real Madrid fans greeted their team before last season’s Champions League semi-final against Borussia Dortmund with chants of “Yes We Can!”.
Defeated 4-1 in the first leg, a three-goal swing was improbable. Dortmund had been too good in the home leg, effectively nailing Mourinho’s hope of winning the much vaunted “decima”, the European Cup, which Madrid have been coveting since their last triumph in 2002.
The Spaniards played well but were profligate in front of goal. With 10 minutes to play the score remained goalless and supporters subdued. Then Karim Benzema gave them an 83rd-minute lead. The huge crowd was finally roused and a second followed in the 88th minute. They couldn’t do it, could they?
A third goal would have been enough, but Dortmund survived relentless late pressure and Madrid were out, leaving an all-German final between Dortmund and Bayern Munich.
That Wembley final defeat appears to have been a high water mark for Jurgen Klopp’s outstanding young side. They have played well this season and are set to finish second in the Bundesliga like last season, but they are so far behind new champions Bayern Munich that Klopp conceded they “need a telescope” to see them.
He is frustrated that their Bavarian arch-rivals can buy his best players: Mario Goetze last season and forward Robert Lewandowski to follow soon.
It was Lewandowski who scored all four against Madrid in Dortmund last season. He also scored against them in a 2-1 home win the season before when Dortmund topped their group.
They are no one-season wonder, but it is almost impossible for Klopp to do more on a wage bill the size of Aston Villa’s. It leaves Dortmund as the underdogs tonight in the Bernabeu for the first leg of the last-eight tie.
It is also harder for him as fan expectations have grown – several Dortmund players spoke out about the boos from their own fans in the 1-0 home defeat against Zenit St Petersburg in the last 16. Dortmund won the away leg 3-0, but the home defeat was their third in the Champions League this season.
The Germans have always been underdogs when they have played Madrid. The pair met in the 1997/98 semi-final of the competition, when Dortmund were the holders and Madrid went on to win their eighth title.
They were on their way down then and almost went out of business in 2005 before rising again to become the superbly run football club they are today.
Circumstances could be better: they will be without the long term injured Ilkay Gundogan, Jakob Blaszczykowski and Neven Subitic. The biggest loss is likely to be the suspended Lewandowski.
Madrid failed to reach the last eight for six seasons until Mourinho took charge. Now with Carlo Ancelotti running the show, they contest the quarter-final stagefor the fourth successive season.
But their state of mind has been rocked by last week’s consecutive surprise defeats to Barcelona and Sevilla after 31 games unbeaten. With that has come a fall from first and favourites to win the Primera Liga to third behind Atletico and Barcelona.
They will be without the injured Jese, Sami Khedira and Alvaro Arbeloa, but their squad remains vastly superior to Dortmund’s.
Madrid have a point to prove and will be looking for revenge tonight.
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