Record FIFA Club World Cup winners Real Madrid meet fellow Europeans, Borussia Dortmund, in the quarterfinals.
Who: Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund
What: FIFA Club World Cup 2025
Where: MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, United States
When: Saturday, July 5 at 4pm local time (20:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 6pm local (22:00 GMT) in advance of our live text commentary stream.
Record FIFA Club World Cup winners Real Madrid face the side they beat to claim the 2024 European crown, Borussia Dortmund, for a place in the semifinals.
Real lifted the Champions League trophy two seasons ago with a 2-0 win at Wembley Stadium in London, United Kingdom, now Dortmund have the chance to exact revenge by ending Real’s hunt for a sixth FIFA title.
Al Jazeera Sport takes a closer look at the tie.
How did Real Madrid reach the quarterfinals?
Real opened their tournament with a 1-1 draw against Al Hilal but went on to beat Pachuca 3-1 and Real Salzburg 3-0, in doing so claiming top spot in Group H.
That set up a blockbuster round-of-16 tie with fellow European giants Juventus. Gonzalo Garcia’s 54th-minute header was enough to seal a 1-0 win for the Spaniards against the Italians.
Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Garcia scores his side’s winning goal against Juventus [Marco Bello/Reuters]
How did Borussia Dortmund reach the quarterfinals?
Dortmund also opened with a draw – a 0-0 stalemate against Fluminense – but secured wins against South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns and South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai.
Their top spot in Group F lead to a round-of-16 meeting with Mexico’s Monterrey. Serhou Guirassy netted in the 14th and 24th minutes, with German Berterame tightening matters in a 2-1 win for the German club.
What happened in Real Madrid’s last meeting with Borussia Dortmund?
The sides have already had one rerun of the 2024 Champions League final when they met in the League Phase of last season’s competition.
Dortmund, however, missed out on the chance to get one back on Real, who ran out 5-2 winners in the match in Spain.
Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe comes on as a substitute [Hannah Mckay/Reuters]
Real Madrid team news
Kylian Mbappe continues his return from an illness which kept him out of the group stage of the tournament. The French forward did, however, make his first appearance at this year’s CWC when he came off the bench in the 68th minute of the win against Juventus.
Borussia Dortmund team news
Dortmund midfielder Jobe Bellingham serves a one-match ban following a second booking of the competition in the win against Monterrey. It means there will be no head-to-head with his brother, Jude.
Head-to-head
This is the 17th meeting between the sides, with Real winning on eight occasions and Dortmund claiming the spoils in three of the encounters.
The Spaniards haven’t lost in the last six meetings, claiming four wins in that time. The run included the Champions League final two seasons ago when Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior’s goals secured the trophy for Los Blancos.
Real Madrid’s Nacho lifts the trophy as he celebrates with teammates after winning the Champions League [Lee Smith/Reuters]
How many Club World Cups have Real Madrid won?
Real Madrid have lifted the trophy, in its various guises, on a record five occasions, with their 2023 victory against Al Hilal being the last.
That does not include lifting the inaugural FIFA Intercontinental Cup in December after their victory against Pachuca, despite that competition taking on the former format of the Club World Cup.
Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso’s pre-match thoughts
“I’m really delighted with the result [against Juventus], going through, and with the performance as well. We had to work, it was going to be tough, but we were professional and did really well.”
Borussia Dortmund coach Niko Kovac’s pre-match thoughts
“We know [Xabi Alonso] very well. He worked two and a half years in Germany, and he did a fantastic job. Now he’s implementing everything he had at Bayer Leverkusen at Real Madrid. So we’re expecting the same what we had in Leverkusen, only with different players. We’re looking forward to it, but you have to play football for 90 minutes, and if we put everything on to the pitch, I think that we will have a good chance.”
Possible Real Madrid starting lineup
Courtois, Alexander-Arnold, Rudiger, Tchouameni, Huijsen, Garcia, Valverde, Bellingham, Guler, Mbappe, Junior
Possible Borussia Dortmund starting lineup
Kobel, Ryerson, Sule, Anton, Bensebaini, Svensson, Nmecha, Gross, Sabitzer, Guirassy, Adeyemi
