Real Madrid 5-2 Borussia Dortmund: Vinicius hat-trick heroics spark remarkable comeback

Vinicius Junior delivered a jaw-dropping treble in the second half as Real Madrid fought back from two goals down to smash Borussia Dortmund 5-2 in the Champions League.

Donyell Malen opened the scoring midway through the first half before Jamie Gittens doubled Dortmund’s lead just four minutes later to stun the home crowd.

However, Kylian Mbappe teed up Antonio Rudger on the hour before Vinicius restored parity just two minutes after, with the goal initially ruled out for offside prior to being overturned by a VAR review.

Lucas Vazquez completed a memorable turnaround with seven minutes remaining, though the Brazil winger stole the show in the closing stages.

Vinicius powered down the left flank before curling past Gregor Kobel with a fine individual goal, before securing his remarkable hat-trick with another impressive strike in the 93rd minute.

Victory leaves Madrid ninth in the Champions League table, while Nuri Sahin’s Dortmund are fifth after their first defeat of the 2024-25 campaign.

@ViniJr#UCL pic.twitter.com/73xWLdg5UV

— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden) October 22, 2024

Data Debrief: Gittens overshadowed by Vinicius

Gittens became the youngest Englishman ever to score against Madrid in the competition, aged just 20 years and 75 days, surpassing Alan Smith (20y 129d for Leeds United in March 2001).

Yet his record-worthy exploits were overshadowed by the heroics of Ballon d’Or favourite Vinicius, who single-handedly powered his side to their second-half turnaround in the Spanish capital.

It was just Vinicius’ third hat-trick for Madrid in all competitions and first in the Champions League, but his second in 2024 after his treble against Barcelona in the Supercopa.

Victory was deserved for the hosts as well, with Madrid accumulating a massive 3.4 expected goals (xG) to Dortmund’s 1.48.