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11th May 2024
04:02pm BST
Borussia Dortmund will end up earning more money than Real Madrid if they lose the Champions League Final next month.
The reason for the bizarre financial twist comes down to a transaction that took place between the two clubs during last summer's transfer window.
German newspaper Ruhr Nachrichten reports that one of the clauses involved in the deal that saw Englishman Jude Bellingham move from Dortmund to the Spanish champions involved a stipulation that if Bellingham were to go on and win the Champions League with Los Blancos, Real Madrid would have to pay the German side an extra €5 million (£4.3 million).
And that's not all, Dortmund will receive an additional €2 million (£1.7 million) payment if Bellingham is, as expected, named in the UEFA Champions League Team of the Season.
As a result, Dortmund would earn around €22.5 million for losing the final - as opposed to €20 million for winning it.
Now, we're fairly sure that if you ask the owners or members of the board at Borussia Dortmund whether they would prefer the extra €2 million over winning the most coveted trophy in. club football, they would all say no - especially considering Dortmund have only won the Champions League once before, in 1997, when Ottmar Hitzfeld's team beat Juventus in Munich.
The Dortmund based newspaper believes a "special payment from Spain for the poached future superstar would at least be a small financial consolation in the event of a defeat", but there's no doubt that players like Marco Reus - who will play his last ever game for the club in the final at Wembley after spending the majority of his career there - want nothing less than to go all the way.
The German side completed an incredible run to the final by beating Paris Saint-Germain over two legs in the semi-final, which appears an even more impressive feat when you consider that they only sold Bellingham last year, but also superstar forward Erling Haaland to Manchester City the year before.
Wednesday night’s Champions League semi-final second leg was one of the most thrilling ends to a European game in a long time, as Real Madrid stole the lead from Bayern Munich in the final ten minutes to progress to next month’s final at Wembley.
Despite being 1-0 down heading into the final minutes of the second leg, Los Blancos once again produced a memorable comeback as former Newcastle and Stoke City striker Joselu netted a quickfire brace to turn the Spanish giants’ fortunes around.
The winning goal was subject to an offside check, and further controversy hit Madrid’s victory as a late decision by the linesman denied the Bayern the chance to equalise.
The final, which will take place on Saturday 1st June at Wembley stadium in London, is now set up to be a mammoth clash, considering how eventful both semi's turned out to be.
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