Well this year's champions league was also full of surprises, although the end result was not any difference since Real Madrid was able to take the trophy home for the 15th time. What was surprising to me was the way Dortmund was able to hold the fierce competition with other elite clubs that participated and found their way to the finals. Although, that would not be the first time they had done that, since they were able to take the trophy in 1997 but now Dortmund wasn't at its best because they could not make it to the top third of the Bundesliga but at least they were able to channel the same energy to the Champions league finals.
Actually, I wasn't surprised to see that Dortmund didn't reach the top third of the Bundesliga this season. Because the Dortmund team itself also very often releases their best players to other teams at higher prices, such as Jude Bellingham to Real Madrid, who in the UCL final yesterday, this player was also sent down by Ancelotti. This means that Dortmund has often experienced this kind of fate in the past, so it didn't surprise me at all when I saw Dortmund lose in the UCL final to the king of Europe, namely Real Madrid.
Yes, you are right, their habit of selling valuable players affects their performance. After all, when they don't find the right replacement player, they will experience a decline, and that's what they felt in the Bundesliga this season, where they couldn't compete closely and made them end up in 5th place in the final standings. Even though they can talk a lot about the Champions League by being in the final match, we can see for ourselves that they ultimately lost to Real Madrid.
I think if they keep the young players they have managed to find so far they will be much better than what they are showing now. We can see the success of Erling Haaland with Manchester City, Jude Bellingham with Real Madrid and many more players from Borussia Dortmund who have successfully shown very good performance in their new teams. But unfortunately they have no desire to retain their valuable players.