European Cup title holders Borussia Dortmund were brought back to earth with a shuddering bump last night as they acknowledged their era of heady success in the 1990s was firmly at an end.

Real Madrid held them comfortably to a 0-0 draw, enough to see them through to the final of the European Champions' Cup after their 2-0 win in the Spanish capital a fortnight ago.

"When you look at both games you have to say Real Madrid deserved to win although they didn't play well," Dortmund keeper Stefan Klos said. Dortmund plugged away but coach Nevio Scala more or less conceded the impossibility of his side's task when he sent out Stephane Chapuisat as the only designated striker.

Not that he had much choice because injury have robbed him of alternatives. Heiko Herrlich won't play again this season because of a muscle tear in one leg and Dutchman Harry Decheiver is limping his way to the end of the season with a broken toe.

By the time Scala decided to risk Decheiver in the second half Borussia's spirit was broken. Real's defence was anything but solid however and would have been permeated by a team more on form.

Dortmund's comeback man Ibrahim Tanko, who took the right wing after a long pause from the game because of injury, proved a thorn in Real's side.

He even had the ball in the back of the net in the 31st minute after accepting an Andreas Moeller pass but failed to watch his position before accepting the ball and was rightly called offside.

Minutes later Stephane Chapuisat was shuffling on the edge of the area, waiting to send off a shot on his strong right boot, but instead was forced to pass to Tanko who sent the ball a millimetre to the wrong side of Bodo Illgner's goal post with a low swerving crack.

Knowing that two goals had to be scored, Dortmund needed the nudge of an early goal to soup up their confidence and if either of Tanko's shots had gone in the game would have been turned on its head.

Real held tight though and had a number of quality scoring shots themselves. Brazilian Roberto Carlos almost shut the gate after 20 minutes with a searing free-kick that caught the underside of the crossbar and bounced out.

Just after the break Clarence Seedorf had a one-on-one breakaway duel with Dortmund's keeper Stefan Klos. The German stormed out of goal though and averted the danger.

Germany's national trainer Berti Vogts, who had his eye on several Dortmund players prior to the World Cup finals, was unimpressed with Real's performance but agreed they deserved to reach the final.

"Dortmund had two big chances to score in the first half and didn't use them. Then in the second half they didn't have enough energy left to turn things round," Vogts said.