Dortmund focus on Champions League final which Klopp will watch
Borussia Dortmund may have ended the Bundesliga in a modest fifth place by their standards but the best is yet to come in the form of the Champions League final against record winners Real Madrid.
Coach Edin Terzic has two weeks to prepare his side for the June 1 match at Wembley, where Dortmund were beaten to Europe's biggest prize by Bayern Munich 11 years ago.
Dortmund are rated underdogs against freshly-crowned La Liga champions and 14-times Champions League winners Real with their ex-Dortmund player Jude Bellingham.
But they were also underdogs in 1997 when they lifted the trophy by beating Juventus 3-1.
Dortmund have impressed more in the Champions League this season than in the Bundesliga, winning a tough group ahead of Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Newcastle United, and then beating PSV Eindhoven, Atletico Madrid and PSG to reach the final.
They ended the up-and-down Bundesliga season in style with a 4-0 victory against relegated Darmstadt on Saturday, and sporting director Sebastian Kehl spoke of "a good feeling that will accompany us to Wembley over the next two weeks."
Forward Julian Brandt said: "Now we want to make the most of the next two weeks so that we go to Wembley in the best-possible shape."
It remains to be seen whether former captain Marco Reus will feature at Wembley in what will be his final match for Dortmund, after an emotional home farewell on Saturday which he crowned with a goal and an assist.
The one thing missing from Reus' career in black and yellow is a real major title, having only lifted two German Cups with the club. He was also not part of Germany's 2014 World Cup-winning squad due to injury.
"We now have two weeks and will turn our full focus on Madrid. The craving for the title is immeasurable. The belief that we can make history must grow in the coming days. We will place the match above all else," Reus said.
"A great opponent awaits us, but it will probably only be 90 minutes. We'll need to give everything and then anything is possible."
Reus played in the lost 2013 final against Bayern, and also back - as a spectator - will be then Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp whose term as Liverpool manager is now ending.
"Champions League final with Dortmund, I got invited, so we will watch that," Klopp told the Liverpool website in an interview published on Sunday when asked what he will do next.
