1997 similarities suggest Dortmund will win Champions League

It has been 16 years since Borussia Dortmund last won the Champions League when Karl-Heinz Riedle’s two goals in the final helped secure a 3-1 victory against Juventus in Munich.

On its own, this fact is fairly meaningless, but when looking at what else happened in German football in the 1996/97 campaign, there is a strong possibility of a Dortmund repeat at Wembley.

It is 15/8 that Dortmund lift the Champions League trophy and 7/2 that they emerge victorious within the 90 minutes against Bayern Munich.

Looking back to 1997 and like this season it was Bayern Munich that were crowned Bundesliga champions, while both their league clashes with Dortmund ended in draws.

Meanwhile, at the foot of the table, Fortuna Dusseldorf were relegated from the Bundesliga and moving the other way from the second tier was Hertha Berlin, something else that has been repeated in the current campaign.

Throw in that Stuttgart have reached the German Cup final and fate indicates that Dortmund will win the Champions League.

Other similarities between the two seasons come from England and Italy, with Manchester United and Juventus landing their respective top-flight titles 16 years apart.

But as Dortmund haven’t beaten Bayern in any of their four showdowns already this season, punters that don’t believe in fate will prefer to back the Bundesliga winners to triumph.

If that is the case, Bayern are 2/5 to lift the trophy and 3/4 to get the job done inside 90 minutes, as they did in the German Cup in February when Arjen Robben scored the only goal.

Robben is 7/1 to score first in the final again and a repeat of the Dutchman striking first in a 1-0 Bayern victory can be backed at 35/1.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publication