Real Madrid, true to form, come from behind to beat Borussia Dortmund

True to its tradition, the reigning UEFA Champions League champions had to overcome adversity, and summon their trademark resilience to stage yet another epic comeback. Real Madrid triumphed 5-2 over Borussia Dortmund at the Santiago Bernabeu, after going into halftime with a 0-2 deficit. The match was a thrilling repeat of last season's final.

The first half belonged to Borussia Dortmund. With a more offensive game, the German team took the lead in the 30th minute with a goal by the Dutch Donyell Malen.

Four minutes later, the reigning runners-up extended their lead with a goal by Britain's Jamie Gittens. Real Madrid could have reduced the deficit before the end of the first half, but in the same play, first Rodrygo Goes and then Jude Bellingham crashed the ball against the post.

The second half had a very different script. The Merengues changed their mentality and took the field with the objective of not letting the three points slip away. And so they did. Antonio Rudiger, in the 60th minute, scored the first goal with a powerful header after a cross from Kylian Mbappé. Real Madrid began its comeback against Borussia Dortmund.

Two minutes later, the great protagonist of the match, Vinícius Júnior, sealed the tie with the first of the three goals he scored in the match.

"We know that when we are at home with our fans anything can happen, when we got to the dressing room, everyone was very quiet, you could only hear the coach, we said only one thing, if we score first, we are going to come back again," said the Brazilian striker, in statements reported by AFP.

In the final stretch of the match came the other three goals. First Lucas Vázquez, in the 83rd minute, with a powerful shot from the right flank of the area. The last two, in the 86th and 93rd minutes, were scored by Vinícius Júnior. Two goals that came after some outstanding individual play by the Brazilian, a leading candidate to win the Ballon d'Or.

With their victory, Real Madrid have six points out of nine, the same as Borussia Dortmund. The Spanish team will face AC Milan on the next matchday, while the Germans will host Sturm Graz.

The rest of the matchday left us with the following results: AC Milan 3-1 Club Brugge; AS Monaco 5-1 Red Star; Arsenal 1-0 Shakhtar; Aston Villa 2-0 Bologna; Girona 2-0 Slovan Bratislava; Juventus 0-1 Stuttgart; PSG 1-1 PSV; and Sturm Graz 0-2 Sporting CP.