Real Madrid are the kings of European football, having won the Champions League 15 times. And they regularly pull off historic comebacks, with Dortmund being the latest victim.
Los Blancos are a strange team at the moment. They have a squad of elite stars but they can't find a common voice. At the Bernabeu, there are times when Real fans don't understand what's happening to their team.
In the first half, "Los Blancos" played extremely poorly. They defended weakly, lacked connection in midfield and were hesitant in attack. However, Los Blancos showed a completely different image in the second half with the explosive Vinicius.
The Brazilian scored a hat-trick, in what is considered the best performance of his career so far. There is no doubt that Vinicius is the owner of this year's Ballon d'Or award.
Real Madrid never failed to get out of the group stage in the old Champions League format. However, they face that risk when starting the new format. The 1-0 defeat to Lille in the second matchday was an anomaly, with Real creating nine chances and an xG (expected goals) of 2.18.
Meanwhile, the first 45 minutes against Dortmund were a disaster for the Bernabeu team. They conceded two goals in four minutes and were almost completely out of form. To be fair, Real have not played well this season, but they still won and are unbeaten in La Liga.
In the 60th minute of the match against Dortmund, Antonio Rudiger's header from Kylian Mbappe's pass helped Real reduce the score. Just 2 minutes later, Vinicius brought the match back to the starting line.
After losing the lead, Dortmund tried to defend and still created some dangerous chances. However, what had to happen happened when Vazquez scored Real's third goal. To add to the impressive comeback, Vinicius added two more goals late in the match.
As the final whistle blew, Los Blancos' disastrous first half seemed like a distant memory. What remained was Dortmund's shock.
This victory is considered a perfect warm-up for Real before the El Clasico match at the weekend. Of course, the mistakes of the "White Vultures" in the first half need to be learned from by Carlo Ancelotti.
The nature of the new Champions League format, with only 12 of the 36 teams eliminated after the first stage, means that even if Real lose to Dortmund, they will still be able to progress. And during their recent dominance of the Champions League, Los Blancos have stumbled in the group stage on more than one occasion, such as a 2-1 win over Sheriff Tiraspol at the Bernabeu in 2021. But in the end, Real still won the title.
"It was Real Madrid's best second half of the season. We put more pressure on Dortmund than in the first half. Vinicius has an extraordinary character. I think our team did not play well in the first 45 minutes.
Not only were they timid, Real Madrid also lacked energy in the first half. We defended with a low formation and did not put enough pressure on Dortmund's goal. I know we are a team with more energy than that" - Ancelotti said after the match.
