Dortmund breaks tradition to reach Champions League final with veteran team

DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Borussia Dortmund is no longer one of the top training schools.

The club, known for producing young talents such as Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland for the big stage, are now at that stage and will face Real Madid – along with Bellingham – in the Champions League final on Saturday.

But this team is different. It was designed for veterans and they make the most of it by getting a second chance in their career.

“We have our own history,” coach Edin Terzic said Tuesday. “We have a history of ups and downs last year. We are one of the teams that sell players at the end of the season. We are a team that is built every year to compete, but now we are here and we are going to face a team that is built to win the Champions League.”

And then there’s Jadon Sancho.

The former England striker resumed his career at Dortmund, the team he joined on loan from Manchester United in January after not playing since August due to problems with manager Erik ten Hag.

The Wembley final will be his final game on loan but Dortmund are hoping to hold talks to keep him. Sporting director Sebastian Kehl said Dortmund were planning to hold “conversations” about the 24-year-old’s future after Saturday’s game.

“He’s still under contract with Manchester United, so no one knows what’s going on here,” Kehl said. “We will have conversations, but after the final.”

Sancho is not the only Dortmund player to be turned down elsewhere. Defender Mats Hummels and midfielder Emre Can were left out of Germany’s European Championship squad, while Sancho was also left out of the England squad. The Champions League gives them the opportunity to show they are still competitive at the highest level and could perhaps even lead to a last-minute call-up to Euro 2024.

Only two Dortmund players have been called up to the national team: striker Niklas Füllkrug, who spent almost his entire career in the second division before scoring his second goal for Werder Bremen at the age of 29 and making his international debut in 2022.

Striker Sebastien Haller will take part in the Champions League final less than two years after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which required chemotherapy and surgery.

Dortmund certainly has promising young players, but winger Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and striker Youssoufa Moukoko, both 19, have started almost every Champions League game on the bench. 21-year-old Gio Reyna was on loan from Nottingham Forest. Dortmund have no clear successor to Bellingham and Halland.

Dortmund are coming off their worst season in nine years in the Bundesliga, finishing fifth, but showed in the Champions League that his battered team can excel in big games.

A year after losing out on the Bundesliga title in the final minutes of the campaign, Dortmund are hoping to end the season with a win.