Five minutes from the end, Carlo Ancelotti, the Real Madrid manager made his last changes. Jude Bellingham, who had set up the critical second goal for his side with a superb slide-rule pass to Vinicius Jr, walked to the sideline, blowing delirious kisses of joy to the fans in the wall of white shirts behind the goal.

And then came Toni Kroos, the Germany player, who was making his 717th and final club appearance on the greatest club stage of all and had set up the opening goal for Dani Carvajal. Kroos walked to the sideline pumping his fist to the fans, embraced by teammates, ready to bow out in victory.

And this was how Borussia Dortmund and the rest of football bowed to the sheer inevitability of Real Madrid in the Champions League. Their record in the competition is astounding. They were outplayed in this match but they still won. They always win. They have not lost in a European Cup final since Liverpool beat them in Paris in 1981.

This was the 15th time they have won the trophy, more than twice the tally of their nearest rival. It was also the fifth victory for their coach, Carlo Ancelotti, which puts him even further clear of a field that contains Bob Paisley, Pep Guardiola and Zinedine Zidane as his closest followers.

Sure, Madrid rode their luck. They often do. They did it against Liverpool in Paris two years ago. And yes, Vini Jr was fortunate not to be sent off in the first half for a dive that would have been a second bookable offence. And yes, Bellingham, like the majority of his teammates, had a quiet first half, even if he ran himself into the ground for the team.

Real Madrid made Borussia Dortmund bow to the sheer inevitability of them winning the Champions League

But Bellingham has a gift, like all the great players have. He can have a quiet game and then he can win it for you. And that was what he helped to do here. He is only 20 and already, at the end of his first season in Spain, he has won La Liga, he has been named La Liga’s Player of the Year and now he is a Champions League winner. This win cemented his legend. 

Poor Dortmund. Bellingham’s former side created chance after chance after chance in the first half and blew them all. When you do that against Madrid, sooner or later you will be punished. Dortmund must feel they are cursed at Wembley. It was here, 11 years ago, where they lost to Bayern in their only other Champions League final.

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Madrid were hot favourites going into the game. Leaving aside their unrivalled record in the competition, they were fresh from winning La Liga at a canter and had dismissed the might of Manchester City in the quarter-finals.

Dortmund, in contrast, were still coming to terms with an ordinary season in the Bundesliga, where they had finished fifth behind Bayer Leverkusen, VfB Stuttgart, Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig. On paper and in the list of bookmakers’ odds, it was a mismatch.

Almost alone, Ancelotti had sounded a note of caution. ‘A Champions League final is the most important game and the most dangerous one,’ he said. ‘You have to be a bit lucky, play well and never lower your guard but when you reach a final, success is so close that you start worrying.’

The game started with an element of farce. There were three pitch invasions in the first minute, which was not a great look for Wembley, especially after the malevolent chaos that had overtaken the Euro 2020 final here.

The last of the three miscreants ambled around the pitch for so long that he had to be shoved to the floor by Dortmund’s Niclas Fullkrug before a match that had hardly started could resume.

Neither team was able to establish an early rhythm but Madrid looked nervous and, roared on by their fervent choir, a yellow wall of supporters transplanted to north west London from the Westfalenstadion, Dortmund started more brightly.

They made the first half chance of the game when Fullkrug ran on to a ball over the top of the Madrid defence, took it down well and laid it into the path of Julian Brandt. Brandt advanced on goal but was put off by a nudge in the back and shot wide.

The next time Dortmund threatened, they should have scored. Mats Hummels played a brilliant through ball to Karim Adeyemi, who beat the offside trap and ran through alone with only Thibault Courtois, preferred to Andriy Lunin, to beat.

Courtois stood tall and refused to commit himself and instead of shooting, Adeyemi took the ball round him. He pushed the ball too wide and when he tried to hook the ball into the net from a tight angle, Dani Carvajal blocked it.

Madrid seemed stunned. Dortmund were rampant. Fullkrug ran on to another through ball and poked his shot past the left hand of Courtois. Courtois turned and watched it roll towards the net but it rebounded off the inside of the post and was hacked to safety.

Madrid were giving chances away at will. They could not cope with Adeyemi’s pace on the Dortmund left and when he sprinted on to another through ball, he forced a diving save out of Courtois. The ball looped into the air, Fullkrug desperately tried to contort his body so he could head the ball into the empty net but it was just too far behind him.

It felt then as if Madrid would surely punish Dortmund for their profligacy but things did not get any better for them when Vinicius Jr was booked for a lunging challenge on Gregor Kobel that left the Dortmund keeper writhing on the ground.

Real Madrid have not lost in a European Cup final since 1981 when Liverpool beat them in Paris so, still, even after Dortmund’s start, few expected it to happen now. Dortmund stayed on top, though, and Sabitzer forced another save out of Courtois on the stroke of half-time.

Some, predicting the inevitability of a Madrid victory, began to make comparisons with the 2022 final, when Liverpool dominated for long periods in Paris, Courtois made save after save, and Madrid won the game.

Madrid began the second half with more purpose. Kobel made his first proper save of the game when he flung himself to his right to push a free kick from Toni Kroos, playing the last club game of a decorated career, round the post.

Ancelotti had pushed Bellingham further forward into the role where he had enjoyed so much success earlier in the season and Madrid looked better balanced and more positive. It took a combination of Emre Can and Kobel to smother a back-post volley from Carvajal.

But just when it seemed as if Madrid were asserting their ascendancy, Dortmund gave them another fright. Adeyemi found some space on the left and crossed to the back post where Fullkrug was lurking unmarked. Fullkrug threw himself at the ball but his header was too close to Courtois and the Madrid keeper beat it away.

Midway though the half, Bellingham nearly stole a goal for Madrid. He ran on to a floated cross and leapt with Kobel to try to flick it in. Neither Bellingham nor the goalkeeper got a touch and the ball bounced just wide.

Madrid exerted more pressure now. Vini Jr, who might have been sent off in the first half for a dive that should have brought a second yellow card, produced an outrageous piece of skill to nutmeg Julian Ryerson and win a corner.

Dortmund could not clear the ball and from a second corner, taken by Kroo in the 74th minute, Carvajal rose at the near post and glanced the ball past Kobel and past a defender’s desperate attempt to clear it off the line. It was his first goal in the Champions League for five years.

Bellingham nearly doubled Madrid’s lead a couple of minutes later when he controlled the ball beautifully in the box and shaped to curl the ball past Kobel. The ball was heading goalwards until a superb intervention from Nico Schlotterbeck deflected it wide.

Kroos forced another save out of Kobel with a curling free kick and the goalkeeper tipped a swerving shot from Eduardo Camavinga over the crossbar. Skipper Nacho nearly scored with a carbon copy near post glancing header from a Kroos corner but this time, Kobel kept it out.

It did not matter. Eight minutes from time, Ian Maatsen gave the ball away to Bellingham and Bellingham did not think twice. He played the ball straight to Vini Jr and he clipped it past Kobel and into the net.