Exclusive: UCL final is Real’s to lose but even if Sancho is triumphant he can’t return to Man United

The smart money will be on Real Madrid to win their 15th Champions League title at Wembley this Saturday, though Jadon Sancho and his Borussia Dortmund team won’t want Los Blancos to have it all their own way.

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As was seen just this past weekend at Wembley Stadium, even when you’re seemingly the biggest underdog, results can still go your way with a bit of belief coupled with complacency from the overwhelming favourites.

In many respects Dortmund have nothing to lose but Stan Collymore still believes that the Spanish league champions will be too good.

Real Madrid will win UCL comfortably says Collymore

“The Champions League is Real Madrid’s competition and it’s theirs to lose,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“That’s nothing against Borussia Dortmund, it’s just that Madrid have got more match winners; Bellingham, Vini Jr… the list goes on, and I think Real will win it comfortably 2-0.”

Although he doesn’t really have anything to prove anymore, Sancho might well see Saturday’s showpiece as the perfect chance to show Man United what they’re missing.

The player has been reborn since being back in the Bundesliga, and it does put Erik ten Hag’s treatment of the winger in a new light.

Whilst it’s ostensibly true that he hadn’t really lit the blue touch paper at Old Trafford, it’s clear that he does have the tools to do the job and he just needed the right manager and set of circumstances to bring that out.

Collymore believes he now has to steer well clear of United, particularly if they come calling again.

“In terms of Jadon Sancho, even if he has a brilliant final, I wouldn’t go anywhere near Man United – even if Sir Alex Ferguson had come back. I think that if you go to a club, and you have a bad experience of that football club, then if you go back, it’s still a bad experience,” he added.

“He’s been playing great at Dortmund, it’s clear that he feels good and looks at home, so if his agent isn’t trying to put to deal together right now with Dortmund then he’s crazy. If he honestly thinks that he’s got the chutzpah to be able to go back into Manchester United with a new manager, good luck to him.

“The expectation is much greater there, with the greatest respect to Dortmund. The Bundesliga outfit are a club where you bring your waifs and strays, young and promising players, and they’ll turn them into a team that play in this amazing 80,000 capacity arena. Whereas at Manchester United, you have to be the finished product. You’ve got to produce immediately.

“Sancho’s dug himself out of a hole and is enjoying his football again, and England have got big Nations League games coming up. There’s nothing to say that he couldn’t get back into an England squad but I’d say to him ‘don’t walk back into that familiar dressing room at Old Trafford and put that shirt on that drags you down. Move on even if that’s to somewhere else.’

“Even if United say that they’re not going to allow him to be loaned out again and he can only be sold, that’s fine. If Dortmund can’t afford him, he should go somewhere else in Germany or to Italy – but under no circumstances should he be going back to Manchester United.”

Sir Jim Ratcliffe will perhaps rue the fact that he didn’t get a chance to speak with Sancho before he went back to Dortmund, as he might well have been the game changer that United needed – and need.

As Collymore notes, however, that ship appears to have sailed long ago and it’s time to look forward and not back.