UEFA Champions League season review

The 2023-24 UEFA Champions League season was super exciting. It saw Real Madrid come out as champions for a record extending 15th time after they beat Borussia Dortmund">Borussia Dortmund in the final which was a replay of the 2012-13 semi final.
Dortmund, who were obvious underdogs going into the game, missed a couple of huge chances in the first half and Real Madrid ended up punishing them with two goals in the space of nine second half minutes from Dani Carvajal and Viní Júnior.
Both these teams had really interesting routes to the final. Real Madrid were perfect in Group C, winning all 6 of their games against Napoli, Braga, and Union Berlin. Meanwhile, Dortmund only needed to win 3 of their 6 games to top Group F which was tagged the group of death because it had heavyweights from 4 of Europe’s big 5 leagues – PSG, AC Milan, Newcastle, and of course, Borussia Dortmund themselves.
Real Madrid got drawn against RB Leipzig in the round of 16, and although they struggled, they managed to secure qualification after beating them 2-1 on aggregate. That win sent them into a quarter final draw against defending champions Manchester City, who, by the way, had embarrassed them 4-nil in the semi final of the same competition the previous year.
So, Madrid went into that game wanting revenge, and revenge was what they got, even though it wasn’t pretty. The teams were inseparable over two legs with the Spanish giants on the back foot for almost all of the fixture, so the game had to be decided on penalties. Luka Modrić missed for Madrid but it didn’t matter because his international teammate Mateo Kovačić as well as Bernardo Silva missed for City.
In the semis, Real Madrid faced Bayern Munich, and by the 87th minute of the second leg, it looked like they would be knocked out, but Manuel Neuer failed to properly handle a shot from Viní, and Joselu was there to pounce and punish the Germans. The striker, who only came off the bench the second half, would double his tally only moments later and send Real straight to the final to face Dortmund.
There was a bit of a controversy with Bayern claiming they should have had an equalizer late in that game, but the flag went up too early.
Anyway, Dortmund, on the other hand, faced PSV in the round of 16, and they dispatched them fairly comfortably. But the quarterfinal against Atlético Madrid wasn’t as comfortable. They lost the first leg 2-1, but they were able to turn things around in the second leg to win 5-4 on aggregate.
In the semis, Dortmund had to be defensively flawless to defeat PSG. Mats Hummels put up man of the match performances in both legs as Dortmund beat the French champions 2-nil on aggregate to reach the Champions League final for the first time in over a decade.
Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe finished as joint-top scorers with 8 goals, Viní Júnior was named Champions League Player of the Season, while Jude Bellingham was named Young Player of the Season.