Borussia Dortmund are back at Wembley this Saturday, back in the Champions League final, over 11 years since their fateful meeting with domestic rivals Bayern Munich at the same venue in the same game.
The 2013 decider brought together the German rivals in London after Bayern had wrestled the Bundesliga crown back from a Dortmund side that had won back-to-back crowns.
That 2012 Dortmund title was to be the last non-Bayern Bundesliga winner under Bayer Leverkusen's triumph this season and the era of Bavarian dominance was kicked off on that May 2013 night in Wembley. Arjen Robben was to be the breaker of BVB hearts, with his 89th minute bringing 'Big Ears' back to Munich for a fifth time.
When Arjen Robben became Mr Wembley 😉@ArjenRobben || #UCL pic.twitter.com/eEsvhwzPlp
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) January 23, 2023
Dortmund won the hearts of European football fans that season, however, with their vibrant young team dispatching of the likes of Ajax, Manchester City, Malaga and, most famously, Real Madrid, en route to the final in London.
It will be Real that Dortmund face in Saturday's final in London. The German side will be underdogs to claim Champions League glory - but they have the memories of their 1997 triumph and their 2013 journey of upsets to call upon.
We've revisited the 2013 final to give you the lowdown on where the Borussia Dortmund starting lineup from the decider ended up.
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Borussia Dortmund: Tracking down the 2013 Champions League final team
Goalkeeper: Roman Weidenfeller
Roman Weidenfeller stayed with Borussia Dortmund for another five years and retired at the end of the 2017-18 season after making 453 appearances for the club.
The shot-stopper also has a World Cup winner's medal to his name. He was part of the 23-man Germany squad at the 2014 tournament in Brazil, though he did not see any game time, with Manuel Neuer - the Bayern Munich goalkeeper for that 2013 final in London - playing the entirety of every game.
Right-back: Łukasz Piszczek
One of those who lasted into the 2020s with Dortmund, Łukasz Piszczek left in 2021 after 11 years at the club.
He continues to play today, having returned to his hometown in Poland to play for Goczałkowice-Zdrój. He has been with the club since his departure from BVB.
Centre-back: Mats Hummels
Mats Hummels' career has taken a rather bizarre path. He began his playing career at Bayern Munich, before signing for Borussia Dortmund in 2008 (initially on loan before it was made permanent in 2009). After the success of Hummels' time at Dortmund, and their Champions League final appearance, he would spend another three years with the club before returning to Bayern in the summer of 2016.
Quaintly, he would complete yet another return in the summer of 2019, rejoining Dortmund where he continues to play today. Hummels has been immense this season, one of the Champions League's standout defenders as he has helped Dortmund to an unlikely appearance in the final.
He is one of two members of the 2013 team who is likely to play a part at Wembley on Saturday, hoping to avenge the memory of 11 years ago.
Mats Hummels in action for Borussia Dortmund in 2019 (Photo: Shutterstock)
He is another of this Dortmund squad who went on to win the 2014 World Cup, being named in the team of the tournament and scoring two goals, including the winner against France in the quarter-finals. He also won three further Bundesliga titles during his time with Bayern Munich.
Centre-back: Neven Subotic
Subotic left Dortmund in 2016 on loan but managed to work his way back into the first team in the 2017-18 season.
He played out the final years of his career with various clubs across Europe, including Saint-Étienne and Union Berlin, and retired in 2021 after a year with Rheindorf Altach in Austria.
Left-back: Marcel Schmelzer
A one-club man, Schmelzer lasted almost another decade at Borussia Dortmund, retiring in 2022 after a career which saw him make 367 appearances for BVB.
He served as club captain for two years between 2016 and 2018, and remained a regular feature of the matchday squad right up until his retirement.
He was made captain of the club in 2016 until 2018, having spent his entire career there, and retired in 2022 after 17 years at the club
Midfield: Ilkay Gundogan
Aside from those who ended up at Bayern Munich, Ilkay Gundogan is undoubtedly the most successful of the 11 players who started the 2013 Champions League final for Borussia Dortmund.
Gundogan - who scored Dortmund's goal in the Wembley final from the spot - left Germany for Manchester in 2016, joining Pep Guardiola's project at Manchester City.
Ilkay Gundogan in Champions League action for Manchester City in 2022 (Photo: Shutterstock)
Gundogan was captain during City's Treble-winning campaign last season, scoring both goals in the 2-1 victory over Manchester United in the FA Cup final and starting the Champions League final against Inter Milan.
He moved to Barcelona last summer, playing in 36 of their 38 La Liga games and scoring in El Classico.
He was included in the 2020-21 PFA Team of the Year and represented Germany at the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups, as well as EURO 2020.
Midfield: Sven Bender
Sven Bender left Borussia Dortmund in 2017, and retired in 2021 after four years at Bayer Leverkusen.
Curiously, despite winning only seven senior caps for his country, he was included as one of the three over-23 players for Germany at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, where he was part of the silver medal-winning team.
Right-wing: Jakub Blaszczykowski
Jakub Blaszczykowski retired last July, after two years on the sidelines with a torn ACL. He had been back home in Poland with Wisla Krakow since 2019 - and he is also a part owner, a role he assumed in April 2020.
He also played for Fiorentina and Wolfsburg in the years since the 2013 final.
He represented Poland at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, as well as at EURO 2016. In that 2016 championship, he was part of the squad which reached the quarter-finals, where they were ultimately eliminated after Blaszczykowski missed in the 5-4 penalty shootout defeat to Portugal.
Number 10: Marco Reus
Another ever-loyal servant to Borussia Dortmund, Marco Reus is the only member of the 2013 team who has been at the club ever since.
He is still a central figure in the team and has cemented his club legend status with 170 goals in 428 appearances in his years there.
There was fierce emotion at the Westfelenstadion on the final day of the season, with Reus confirming he will leave the club at the end of this season after 12 years of service in black and yellow.
It would be a scarcely believable fairytale end to his years with Dortmund if he were to deliver the club's second Champions League crown on Saturday in his final game with the club. There are more than a few football fans who would love to see it happen.
8 October 2015; Wes Hoolahan, Republic of Ireland, in action against Marco Reus, Germany. UEFA EURO 2016 Championship Qualifier, Group D, Republic of Ireland v Germany. Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Road, Dublin. Picture credit: Ramsey Cardy / SPORTSFILE
His cruelly bad luck with injuries have seen him miss two FIFA World Cups, as well as EUROs 2016 and 2020. He played and scored at the 2018 World Cup, when Germany were eliminated at the group stage.
Left-wing: Kevin Groẞkreutz
Kevin Groẞkreutz has undoubtedly had the most insane career path of any of the Borussia Dortmund squad since the 2013 Champions League final.
Groẞkreutz left Dortmund in 2015 - but issues with registering him as a Galatasaray player left him unable to play any matches for almost four months until January 2016. Once the January window opened, he chose to return to Germany with Stuttgart, without having played a single game for Galatasaray.
His contract was terminated by mutual decision just 14 months later, in the aftermath of Groẞkreutz reportedly being involved in a bar fight in the city. He now plays in the German sixth division with Wacker Castrop.
Oh, and he won a World Cup in 2014 with Germany on top of all of that.
Striker: Robert Lewandowski
Lewandowski went on to establish himself as one of the greatest strikers in Bundesliga history, and one of the greatest forward players of the modern age.
He left Dortmund in 2014 after winning the Bundesliga Golden Boot in 2013-14, and joined rivals Bayern Munich. Lewandowski would go on to win eight back-to-back Bundesliga titles with Bayern, during which time he won a further six Bundesliga golden boots.
Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich celebrates after scoring a goal to make it 0-3 - Chelsea v Bayern Munich, UEFA Champions League - Round of 16 First Leg, Stamford Bridge, London, UK - 25th Feb 2020 (Photo: Shutterstock)
The highlight of his time in Munich was scoring 15 goals in 11 appearances as Bayern won the 2020 UEFA Champions League. Moved to Barcelona in the summer of 2022, where he helped La Blaugrana to their first La Liga title in four years as the league's top scorer in his first season.
He was robbed of the 2020 Ballon d'Or when the ceremony was cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Manager: Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp is hoisted aloft by the Liverpool players after their win in the 2019 UEFA Champions League final (Photo: Shutterstock)
The iconic Jurgen Klopp left Borussia Dortmund at the end of the 2014-15 season. He took over when Brendan Rodgers was sacked as Liverpool manager in October of that year and oversaw a revolutionary rejuvenation of the club's fortunes.
After leading the club to its first league title in 30 years in 2020, as well as the Champions League in 2019 (and two further final appearances), Klopp announced in January his shock decision to leave at the end of the season.
Rumours have circulated in recent weeks that Klopp could be tempted to return to Dortmund in the future in a role as club president.
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