This wasn't supposed to happen. When Jude Bellingham applauded the famous Yellow Wall for the final time in May 2023, clapping the thousands of fans before him with teary eyes, there the sense of something ending in Dortmund. The midfielder had been central to a revival that fell narrowly short of its lofty goals, as Edin Terzic's fell agonisingly short in a Bundesliga title race they felt destined to win.
Bellingham knew, by then, that he would be playing in Real Madrid white soon enough. Any hopes of ending Bayern Munich's 11-year-long vice-like grip on German football had been dashed.
And while the Black and Yellow did little domestically this season to change their fortunes, they have worked wonders on the continent. This side, void of Bellingham and still reeling from the loss of Erling Haaland, is on the cusp of doing something their iconic team of the early 2010s could never accomplish: win a Champions League final.
It's an unlikely twist, especially given the loss of such important players and a turbulent Bundesliga campaign. Still, this has hardly been a run of luck. Rather, Dortmund have choreographed their way through Europe, piecing together the kind of miraculous run that could live among the competition's best.