As Borussia Dortmund prepare to walk into Wembley for a Champions League final against Real Madrid, it is hard to pinpoint their source of inspiration.

Any memories of the venue will certainly be tainted by their cruel loss to Bayern Munich 11 years ago, in the final of the same tournament no less.

Add to that the match-up, against the kings of Europe and a team that always seems to win the mental game, and their prospects shrink further.

There is also little encouragement to be found from their recent performances on big occasions. In fact, those performances will only reinforce the mental barrier.

Read more

Real gunning for 15th UCL, Dortmund dreaming of second: Who will win the final showdown?

At the end of last season, all Dortmund had to do was beat Mainz at home to become German champions and nothing else would matter. "We have it in our hands,"read a banner across the famed Yellow Wall.

Anticlimactically, perhaps overwhelmed by pressure, they floundered to a draw, conceding the title to Bayern.

There have been many such setbacks in recent seasons. And one player who has lived through them all is Marco Reus. In fact, the well ran dry immediately after Reus arrived from 2012, the summer after Dortmund won a second straight league title.

Now, after 12 years at Dortmund, including five years as the team's captain, Reus has only two German Cups to his name.

The lack of silverware has often invited questions about mentality, sometimes causing tempers to flare. "You're really getting on my nerves now with your mentality crap, you really are," Reus fumed on the pitch after his team had conceded a last-minute equaliser away at Eintracht Frankfurt.

It's going to be a great game. Real Madrid, their history speaks for itself. I've got a few friends over there, Vini and Jude. I actually messaged them after they won against Bayern. I said, 'I'll see you there.' It's going to be a tense game, for sure.

— Borussia Dortmund forward Jadon Sancho

Whether it has to do with mentality or not, their mercurial form only adds to the mystery.

In the Champions League, Dortmund have been imperious. They finished top of a group with PSG, AC Milan and Newcastle, dramatically overcame Atletico Madrid in the quarters and then saw PSG off without conceding in the semis. But in the Bundesliga, they finished in fifth place.

This all-too-familiar hot and cold pattern has often led to players leaving Dortmund for greener pastures. Young players that are hungry for trophies, like Jude Bellingham, now on the opposing team, and Erling Haaland, are among such examples.

But a better representation would be one of Reus' peers like Mats Hummels, the only other remaining player from BVB's last Champions League final in 2013.

After winning two Bundesliga titles at Dortmund, and going trophyless for the next four years, Hummels moved to Bayern, where he proceeded to win the league three times in as many seasons.

His trophy cabinet also boasts the World Cup trophy, won in 2014, a prize Reus missed out on through injury.

Still, at Dortmund's home, Reus, is hailed as among the all-time greats and adored by the fans as 'one of us'.

"Marco is a living legend," coach Edin Terzic said after Reus' decision to leave. "Where else can you find that in modern football? A story where someone chooses a club for twelve years and spends almost his entire career there is extraordinary at this level."

Coming from Terzic, a Dortmund fan who attended his first game in 1991 at the Westfalenstadion aged just nine, those words carry serious weight.

Despite all the near misses and cruel twists of fate, lifting the Champions League with Dortmund would be a salve for any wound.

But while this date with destiny presents a chance, it also threatens to turn him into the tragic hero one last time. In that case, as he has for years, Reus can turn to the fans, secure in the knowledge that, just like on the last day of the last season, they will be singing his name regardless of the result.