Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund Preview: Team News & Prediction | 2025 FIFA Club World Cup | Quarter-Final

Click here for today’s sports betting tips from our expert analysts!

The final FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final this summer is a repeat of the 2024 UEFA Champions League final as Real Madrid take on Borussia Dortmund.

Kick-off date/time:

How to watch on TV & online: UK – DAZN & Channel 5 / US – DAZN

Real Madrid team news: Nothing fresh

Kylian Mbappe returned to the bench for Madrid in their Round of 16 tie, after he had been suffering with illness. The likes of David Alaba, Ferland Mendy, Eduardo Camavinga and Endrick all missed out on the squad due to injuries.

Predicted XI (4-3-3): Courtois; Alexander-Arnold, Rudiger, Dean Huijsen, Fran Garcia; Fede Valverde, Tchouameni, Bellingham; Guler, Gonzalo Garcia, Vinicius Junior

Unavailable: 

Questionable: 

Borussia Dortmund team news: All-Bellingham tie ruined

The all-Bellingham quarter-final will not be taking place as Jobe Bellingham is unavailable for the quarter-final with Los Blancos due to suspension. Jamie Bynoe-Gittens is again unlikely to be involved as he finalises a move to Chelsea. 

Predicted XI (3-4-3): Kobel; Sule, Anton, Bensebaini; Ryerson, Nmecha, Gross, Svensson; Brandt, Guirassy, Adeyemi

Unavailable: Bellingham (Suspended)

Questionable: Bynoe-Gittens (Illness)

Key stats

• Real Madrid and Dortmund have met 16 times previously in competitive matches. The Spanish team lead the overall head-to-head record with eight wins to three and the pair have also drawn on five occasions. 
• This is a repeat of the 2024 UEFA Champions League final, which Real Madrid won 2-0 at Wembley Stadium, London with second-half goals from Dani Carvajal and Vinícius Júnior to become champions of Europe for a record-extending 15th time.
• The teams also met in Madrid in the league phase of the 2024/25 Champions League on Matchday 3, the Spanish side coming from two goals down to win 5-2 thanks to a hat-trick from Vinícius Júnior and a goal apiece from Antonio Rüdiger and Lucas Vázquez.
• Real Madrid have lost only one of their last 23 competitive matches against German teams (W16 D6 L1).
• Real Madrid have reached the quarter-finals without losing a match (W3 D1 L0).
• Real Madrid have won nine of their last 12 outings in all competitions (W9 D1 L2). They are unbeaten in the seven most recent, with six wins and one draw (W6 D1 L0).
• Real Madrid opened the scoring in all their four contests at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™.
• Real Madrid have found the net in each of their last 14 games in all competitions.
• Real Madrid have won 14 of their last 15 FIFA club competition matches (W14 D1 L0).
• Real Madrid’s Gonzalo García has scored in three of his four appearances at the FIFA Club World Cup™.
• Dortmund have progressed to the quarter-finals without losing a match (W3 D1 L0).
• Dortmund are undefeated in their last 11 competitive outings, in which they have recorded nine wins and two draws (W9 D2 L0).
• Serhou Guirassy has scored 12 goals in his last ten appearances for Dortmund in all competitions.
• Madrid head coach Xabi Alonso was in charge of Dortmund’s domestic rivals Bayer Leverkusen from October 2022 to May 2025, winning the Bundesliga/DFB Pokal double unbeaten in 2023/24. His record against Dortmund, however, was W1 D2 L2, his last home game as Leverkusen boss on 11 May bringing a 4-2 defeat against a Dortmund side led by Niko Kovač.
• That was Kovač’s first win over Alonso in five Bundesliga encounters, the first four, in charge of Wolfsburg (2022-24), having yielded two draws and two defeats.
• Kovač and Alonso both won the Bundesliga as players with Bayern München, the former in 2002/03, the latter three seasons running from 2014/15-2016/17. Kovač also led Bayern to the Bundesliga/DFB Pokal double as head coach in 2018/19.
• Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham was a Dortmund player from 2020-23, scoring 24 goals in 132 appearances for the club and winning the 2020/21 DFB Pokal. His younger brother Jobe recently joined Dortmund and has been a regular in their FIFA Club World Cup side, scoring in the 4-3 group stage win against Mamelodi Sundowns.
• Rüdiger has won 79 caps for Germany and is a national team-mate of Dortmund’s Pascal Gross, Maximilian Beier, Waldemar Anton, Niklas Süle, Felix Nmecha, Julian Brandt and Karim Adeyemi.
• Rüdiger began his career in Germany with VfB Stuttgart (2011-15). Two of his fellow Madrid squad members also have Bundesliga experience – David Alaba with Bayern (2009-21), and Carvajal with Leverkusen (2012/13).
• Alaba won 22 major honours with Bayern, including ten Bundesliga titles, the eighth under Kovač in 2018/19.
• Alaba plays for Austria with Dortmund’s Marcel Sabitzer and was his Bayern team-mate from 2021-23. Alaba also played with Süle at the Munich club from 2017-22. 
• Dortmund’s Yan Couto spent three seasons in Spain on loan at Girona, with two of those campaigns in La Liga (2022/23 and 2023/24)
• Couto is a Brazil national team-mate of Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo, Éder Militão and Endrick.
• Madrid’s Eduardo Camavinga played at French club Rennes with Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy in 2020/21.
• Kylian Mbappé scored three goals for Monaco as they knocked Dortmund out of the 2016/17 Champions League in the quarter-finals, winning 3-2 away and 3-1 at home. However, in six games for Paris Saint-Germain against Dortmund he managed just one goal, a penalty, and played the full 90 minutes of both 1-0 defeats to the German side in the 2023/24 semi-finals. He also drew a blank against Dortmund for Madrid in the 5-2 win last autumn.
• Mbappé scored his 50th goal for France last month in a 2-0 win against Germany in Stuttgart in the UEFA Nations League third-place play-off. Gross and Adeyemi started the match for Germany, with Madrid’s Aurélien Tchouaméni alongside Mbappé for France.

Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund prediction

Xabi Alonso is getting to grips with his Real Madrid side and the more deliberate, possession-based style of football is beginning to take hold. They were controlled, if a little dull as things become automatic, as they edged past Juventus by a goal to nil in the Round of 16, courtesy of a winner scored by young striker Gonzalo Garcia.

Borussia Dortmund have been entertaining to watch throughout the competition, after a goalless draw with Fluminense in their opener. They have been much-improved since the appointment of Niko Kovac and squeezed through to the quarter-finals after a 2-1 defeat of Monterrey the other day, with Serhou Guirassy notching a brace.

Dortmund will fancy their chances of taking the game to Madrid, but that is likely to aid Xabi Alonso’s side in transition so siding with the 15-time European champions is good value.

Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund tip: Real Madrid to win