Vinícius' hat-trick shows why he is the favorite for the Ballon d'Or

MADRID – “Our crown, our trophy,” read the banner that fans held up behind the Santiago Bernabeu's south goal before kick-off.

Real Madrid are the reigning European champions, the 15-time UEFA Champions League winners and of course the comeback kings, as they proved again in this unpredictable, hugely entertaining 5-2 win over Borussia Dortmund.

This is a strange Madrid team full of elite players, but one that often doesn't work as a unit. They flirted with the embarrassment against Dortmund before deciding to score and turn the game around to the cheers of the Bernabeu crowd.

They were poor in the first half: weak in defense, non-existent in midfield and hesitant in attack. In the second half they looked like an unstoppable force of nature, led by the irrepressible Vinícius Júnior. The Brazilian scored a hat-trick, which is a contender for his career-best performance. That was worthy of the Ballon d'Or. He could have one by the end of this month.

In the old Champions League format, Madrid never managed to qualify through the group stage. There was a real risk here, starting the new league phase with two defeats in three games. The 1-0 defeat at Lille on matchday two could have been dismissed as an anomaly – Madrid created nine chances there with an xG (expected goals) of 2.18, but lost 1-0 – but Tuesday's performance in the First half The 0-2 deficit against Dortmund and two goals conceded within four minutes made it look more like a trend.

Madrid haven't played well this season, but they still won games and are unbeaten in LaLiga. Before kick-off there was optimism, excitement and expectation here, the feeling of a major European clash and a repeat of last season's Wembley final. The atmosphere created by the thousands of Dortmund fans who traveled with us contributed to this. In the middle of the first half, the desks in the Bernabéu press box moved gently up and down across the stadium with their coordinated, mass hopping. On the field, their team gave them every reason to jump up and down.

Donyell Malen's opening goal after 31 minutes was well done, a team move that ended with Malen on the ball, in space, in front of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. Three minutes later, Malen crossed to Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and scored Dortmund's second goal, sprinting past a dozing Lucas Vázquez at the far post.

It didn't take long for Madrid to come to life, with Rodrygo – back in the eleven here in their favorite competition after three consecutive games on the bench – and Jude Bellingham both hitting the woodwork within seconds of each other. But then it was Dortmund again who came closest to a third goal before the break when Courtois made a full-strength save from Julian Brandt.

The Bernabeu crowd proudly whistled their team off the pitch at half-time. In the second half, a reaction seemed almost inevitable. It came in the 60th minute when Antonio Rüdiger made it 2-1 with a powerful header from a Kylian Mbappé cross, before Vinícius made it 2-2 minutes later after nervously waiting for an offside call on the pitch was repealed.

Then Madrid had to wait. They pushed for the winning goal while Dortmund tried to hold on and occasionally threaten on the counterattack when they could. When the time came, Madrid's third goal came through Vazquez before a stunning brace from Vinícius in the closing stages left no doubt about the result. At the final whistle, Madrid's poor first half seemed like a distant memory, the victory ultimately so comfortable, so overwhelming, that what came before could almost be dismissed as irrelevant.

Vinícius carried the match ball off the field and will make headlines as the game's outstanding player. In preparation for Saturday El Classic Things don't get much better against Barcelona in LaLiga, although Madrid's first-half deficits suggest there are still plenty of reasons for concern.

The nature of this new Champions League format, in which only 12 of the 36 teams are eliminated after the league phase, means that even if Madrid had lost, they would still have qualified for the knockout phase. And it's worth remembering that they haven't been immune to the occasional group stage slip-up – remember Moldova's Sheriff Tiraspol's 2-1 win at the Bernabeu in 2021? Madrid won the Champions League this season.

But in the end there was no slip-up here. Everything was as usual. After this second half, Madrid will be considered one of the favorites to win the competition again in 2025. And with Vinicius in such unplayable form, it's hard to argue with that.