Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid face Borussia Dortmund at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on Saturday as the 2025 Club World Cup reaches the last eight.
While the disruptors of Al-Hilal and Fluminense are also in the final eight, and Chelsea face Palmeiras, there’s another tasty European clash on the agenda as Champions League champions Paris Saint-Germain face up to Bundesliga winners Bayern Munich. This one has plenty to get our teeth into too, as it pitches former Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso against BVB’s relatively new boss Niko Kovac and both can be pretty happy with their teams so far.
Real Madrid beat Juventus in the Round of 16 by a 1-0 scoreline while BVB overcame Monterrey 2-1. And, while the Club World Cup 2025 betting odds rate Los Blancos as second favourites to lift the lucrative prize and Die Schwarzgelben down as seventh favourites; I suspect we’ll have a good battle between these two.
Talking Points
Mbappe could be back for Madrid
Los Blancos have been pretty impressive in this competition after an underwhelming start with a 1-1 draw against Al-Hilal, bearing in mind of course that the Saudi side have just dumped Manchester City out of the competition. Former Real Madrid playing star Alonso soon got his new troops moving with a 3-1 win over Mexican side Pachuca and a 3-0 victory against Red Bull Salzburg before they edged out the Old Lady.
With Kylian Mbappe missing games through injury, academy star Gonzalo Garcia has been given his chance and he has taken it with both hands, scoring three goals and making an assist, but Mbappe came off the bench in Real Madrid’s clash with Juventus without any setbacks and he is in contention for a start against Die Schwarzgelben. That may be harsh on the 21 year old Garcia so it will be interesting to see which way Alonso decides to go: “I think day by day he (Mbappe) will get better, and by the time of the quarters he should in much better shape,” said the manager, “We’ll keep checking in with him every day.”
Whether Mbappe or Garcia makes the starting 11, Madrid will field an exciting front line, with Arda Guler and Vinicius Junior either side and Jude Bellingham in behind.
Dortmund searching for that ruthless edge
Kovac’s side have done as well as he would have hoped, making it through to the quarter finals and scoring plenty of goals, but they have made things harder work for themselves than they might have. In the group stage they raced into a 4-1 lead over South African side Mamelodi Sundowns but were pegged back to 4-3 for an unnecessary anxious ending to the game. And there was a similar story in the Round of 16 as Serhou Guirassy scored his second and third goals of the campaign to give BVB a 2-0 half time lead over Monterrey. But three minutes after the break the Mexicans halved the deficit and Dortmund were hanging on again. If they get ahead against Los Blancos Die Schwarzgelben will need to use all their game management skills and keep things tight, or they might find it even more difficult than they did against Monterrey.
The only disappointing Club World Cup 2025 news for the Germans is that Jobe Bellingham, who has started well for his new club, will be unavailable to meet his big brother due to suspension.
History
Real Madrid have had the better of Borussia Dortmund in recent years with eight wins to three in all competitions, including the 2024 Champions League final when Los Blancos won 2-0. And they met again in the 2024/25 Champions League and this time the Spaniards won 5-2, overturning a 2-0 deficit as Vinicius scored a second half hat-trick; and that turnaround will be a timely reminder to the Dortmund players who were on the pitch that day.
Los Blancos and Die Schwarzgelben come into the game in identical form. Each have won five and drawn one of the last six and in the same order, with three consecutive victories coming into this clash.
Betting Tip
Alonso’s Real Madrid are the red hot favourites, at SBOTOP odds of 1.56, to win this clash with BVB at 4.47 and the Draw is available at 3.83. Los Blancos are looking good and the Germans have made hard work of their passage through to the quarter final. But the underdogs are yet to fall and they will fight hard against the Spaniards, with Guirassy a potential match-winner.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR (⭐) BETS ARE WORTH:
⭐⭐⭐= €20 (HIGHLY CONFIDENT)
⭐⭐= €10 (CONFIDENT)
⭐= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT)
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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