When Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid meet in the Champions League final this weekend, the Bundesliga club will return to the scene of their heartbreaking defeat in the same competition in 2013.
Eleven years ago at Wembley Stadium, Jurgen Klopp’s BVB men lost 2-1 to a Treble-chasing Bayern Munich side featuring Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and Toni Kroos.
Current Dortmund manager Edin Terzic has beaten Carlo Ancelotti and the 14-time European champions and will be hoping to go even further this time around. A match with an interesting subplot about the manager’s age.
A lot has changed for the Black and Yellows since that narrow loss to Bayern over a decade ago, with only two former Bayern players still at the club. Here’s what the 2013 Champions League finalists’ players have been up to in the last 11 years.
Goalkeeper – Roman Weidenfeller
Weidenfeller, a veteran who made more than 450 appearances over 16 seasons with Dortmund, retired in 2018 at the age of 37. The experienced goalkeeper was only capped five times by Germany, but was part of their 2014 World Cup-winning team as back-up to Manuel Neuer.
Since retiring, Weidenfeller has acted as an ambassador for Dortmund.
Right back – Łukasz Piszczek
An athletic and well-rounded full-back, Piszczek joined Dortmund from Hertha Berlin and helped Klopp’s BVB to consecutive title wins. The Pole was regarded as one of the best right-backs in the Bundesliga during his time at Signal Iduna Park and will remain with the club until 2021.
He moved to his hometown club Goczałkowice Zdroj in the Polish fourth division, where, still going strong at 38, he now serves as player-manager.
Centre back – Neven Subotic
A firm favourite at centre-back, Klopp signed him from his former club Mainz in his first summer in charge at Dortmund, and the Serbia international made 263 appearances for BVB before leaving the club in 2018.
He played in France, Turkey and Austria, as well as one season with Union Berlin, before retiring in 2021. Subotic now devotes himself to campaigning for social and environmental issues.
Centre Back – Mats Hummels
a Manchester United Transfer Legends XI A Germany’s Nico Gaitan, the powerhouse Hummels has never played outside the Bundesliga but moved to Bayern Munich in 2016, returning to the club where he began his career.
He spent three seasons with Bayern, winning three league titles, before returning to Dortmund in 2019. The 35-year-old World Cup winner is one of just two players from the 2013 squad who will feature for BVB at Wembley Stadium this weekend.
Left back – Marcel Schmelzer
Left-back Schmelzer joined Dortmund as a teenager, made his professional debut for the club at the age of 20 and never played for another team until his retirement in 2022.
The 14-time Germany capped player has made 367 appearances for BVB, winning the Bundesliga twice and the DFB Cup three times, and is currently assistant coach at the club’s second team.
Central Midfielder – Sven Bender
Bender began his career alongside his twin brother Lars at 1860 Munich before spending eight years at Borussia Dortmund, before joining his brother in 2018 to join Bayer Leverkusen, and the brothers both retired in 2021.
He is currently part of Signal Iduna Park’s first-team coaching staff under manager Terzic and re-joined the club in January alongside former midfielder Nuri Sahin, who was on the bench at Wembley Stadium in 2013.
Central Midfielder – Ilkay Gundogan
Gundogan, who scored Dortmund’s penalty goal against Bayern at Wembley, ultimately collected a Champions League winners’ medal. Ten years later, when he captained Manchester City to Treble glory..
Serious back and knee injuries briefly threatened the premier German midfielder’s career, but the Gelsenkirchen-born star overcame those setbacks to win five Premier League titles under Pep Guardiola at the Etihad before signing for Barcelona last summer.
Right Wing – Jakub Blaszczykowski
A fan favourite throughout his nine years at Dortmund, the hard-working and studious right winger played more than 250 games for the Black and Yellows before spending a few unsuccessful stints at Wolfsburg before returning to his native Poland in 2019 to sign with Wisla Krakow.
He retired last year at age 37 and was recently the subject of an Amazon documentary called “Kuba.”
Attacking Midfielder – Marco Reus
The second member of the 2013 team to remain is Reus has announced that he will leave Dortmund at the end of the 2023/24 season. After 12 years at his beloved club, the attacking midfielder, a true icon at Signal Iduna Park, returned to BVB, his youth teammate, from Borussia Mönchenglabach in 2012.
With a strong claim to having been one of the top five players in the world in his prime, Reus has to be football’s most unlucky superstar. Injuries have kept him out of many major tournaments, including Germany’s glorious 2014 World Cup. He turns 35 on the eve of the 2024 Champions League final, and there could be no more fitting way to cap off his illustrious career with Dortmund than by helping them win an upset over Real Madrid.
Left wing – Kevin Grosskreutz
Grosskreutz began his career in the humble ranks of Germany’s regional leagues, eventually rising to the second division with Rot-Weiss Aalen before signing with Borussia Dortmund, the club he had supported since childhood, in 2009.
A reliable player at right-back or left winger, Grosskreutz spent six years at BVB and was only capped six times by his country, but was part of Germany’s World Cup-winning squad in 2014. He moved to Galatasaray in 2014 and, at the age of 35, still plays in Germany’s third tier.
Striker – Robert Lewandowski
Lewandowski overcame the disappointment of a failed move to Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn Rovers in 2010, forcing him to join Dortmund instead, where he scored 103 goals in 170 appearances for the club.
The Polish spy joined Bayern as a free agent after his contract expired in 2014. He has since become a record-winning player, scoring 344 goals in 375 appearances, winning eight Bundesliga titles and one Champions League medal. He signed for Barcelona in 2022 and, now 35, has a relatively dismal record of 59 goals in 95 games.
Manager – Jurgen Klopp
He was never heard from again.
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