LONDON -- Edin Terzic is not blind to the widespread consensus that Real Madrid are heavy favorites in tomorrow's Champions League final. The Borussia Dortmund head coach simply doesn't care. After all, his side have made quite the habit of upsetting odds makers on their road to Wembley.
Coming into the Champions League proper, few believed that Dortmund, who would go on to finish fifth in the Bundesliga, would even make it out of their group, let alone finish ahead of Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Newcastle United. Having navigated a tricky tie with PSV Eindhoven in the round of 16, BVB were viewed as a plum draw for both Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain. Both fell in front of the Yellow Wall, the latter failing to register so much as a goal across 180 minutes of football.
Madrid might just be their greatest test yet but it is not one that inspires fear for Terzic, who 11 years ago was among the Dortmund fans at Wembley who saw their side fall at the last hurdle against Bayern Munich.
"It's clear that they are favourites," said Terzic. "We don't care. We weren't favourites against Atletico or Paris either. It's about us. If we are brave, if we are ready to show that we don't want to see how Real Madrid lift the next trophy, if we give them a game, then we're going to have a chance."
The Dortmund boss added, "If we play 10 times against Real Madrid it will be very difficult. Thirty-four, impossible. If you break it down to one game everything is possible.
"It's about the game. We played so many this season, 60 all together. We had 60 games to prepare ourselves for tomorrow. This is our part of the story."
Away from the Champions League, it has been a trying season for Dortmund and Terzic. In the Bundesliga in particular, the shadow of losing the title to Bayern Munich on last year's final day loomed large. Last season's champions slipped but the runners-up dipped further. This time they were nine points off their perennial rivals. The real problem is they were 27 off Bayer Leverkusen.
Indeed, had it not been for their exploits in Europe -- coupled with deep runs by Bayern Munich and Leverkusen -- Dortmund would go into this match knowing that they needed to win the Champions League to play in it next season. Even their road to Wembley started in reverse, their first two group games bringing zero goals scored, two conceded and a solitary point. Now what their coach terms a "totally different team" has a chance to see the beautiful side of a sport that has been so cruel to them in the years since Jurgen Klopp's back-to-back titles in Germany.
Reflecting on last season's final day heartache, Terzic said, "This is part of our life. Part of our way to success. It's not the most beautiful chapter in my life, but the most important. It doesn't matter how hard it feels, stand up and try again.
"We didn't make it as close in the Bundesliga, but now we are here in the final. This is the most beautiful part of the sport. Last season we found out how tough it can be. Now we find out how beautiful it can be."
The manager's optimism is shared by his players. The run to the Champions League final has been the making of Nico Schlotterbeck, the 24-year-old winning widespread acclaim for his performances alongside veteran center back Mats Hummels. Though there has certainly been good fortune in their record of just nine goals conceded in 12 Champions League matches, holding Kylian Mbappe and company scoreless in both legs has given Dortmund belief that they can do the same to Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and their former teammate Jude Bellingham.
"We kept a clean sheet against Paris twice," said Schlotterbeck. "That's not normal. We now also know that we can beat any opponent in the world. If we all believe that tomorrow, we also have a good chance of winning."
Playmaker Julian Brandt added: "Our Champions League season gives us courage. Now we have the ultimate opponent. That's as good as it gets but we all have absolute faith. If it were any different, we might as well have stayed at home."
