No team has dominated European football’s top club competition quite like real Madrid. They made it to, and won, the inaugural editionknown then as the European Champion Clubs’ Cup which originally featured, in theory, only the winners of the continent’s major domestic leagues. Real Madrid’s grip on the tournament, rebranded as the Champions League in 1992is just as strong today as it was back in the 1950s.
no club you have won the competition as many times as they have (13), scored as many goals (1017) or made the most appearances in the tournament (47) or the end itself.
After securing their place in this year’s end, Liverpool will have the chance to equal AC Milan’s seven titles – the second club to have won it the most. But if Madrid can get past Citythey will be looking at landing their 14th – double that figure.
Real Madrid’s first game in official European competition
Real Madrid’s first game in the European Cup was against Servette in the First Round in September 1955 – the first edition of the tournament which featured an opening round, the quarter finals, semi-finals and final. Unlike today when a team must play a minimum of 12 games to reach the end, back then it was only six games. They beat their Swiss rivals 0-2 in Geneva and 5-0 at the Bernabéu. They beat partisan 4-3 on aggregate in the quarter finals, then played out a close semi-final with AC Milan before beating Stade Reims 4-3 to become the first champions of Europe in the end in Paris in June 1956.
That set Madrid on their way. They made it to the next four consecutive finals and won them all – beating Fiorentina in the 1957 ending, AC Milan in 1958, Stade Reims eleven again in 1959 and thumping EintrachtFrankfurt 7-3 on a memorable afternoon in Glasgow in 1960.
The following year, the tournament was expanded to 28 participating clubs and Real Madrid discovered what it was like to be dumped as they were eliminated for the first time, losing 4-3 to Barcelona in the First Round.
Real Madrid lose their first European Cup final
One year on, in 1961/2, they also found out how it feels to lose a final. Madrid faced Eusébio’s mighty Benfica. the cup holders, in Amsterdam. even to Ferenc Puskas hat trick wasn’t enough to stop them crashing to a 5-3 defeat, as the Portuguese clinched their second title.
It was a similar story in 1963/4 when Madrid saw off rangers, Dinamo Bucharest, AC Milan and Zürich to reach the final only to lose 3-1 to Inter Milan, playing a new breed of football under Helenio Herrera.
By the mid-60s, little was left of the Madrid side of the late 1950s. the Yé-yé team as it was known, (a nod to The Beatles), reached and won the 1966 final, beating Partizan Belgrade 2-1 at Heysel but Madrid’s dominance in Europe was coming to an end. Another 32 years would pass before they would be proclaimed European champions.
Vujadin Boskov guided Madrid to the 1981 final in Paris where they faced two-time winners Liverpool. Played on a poor pitch, it was a dull, scrappy, forgettable game which was settled late on by Reds full-back Allan Kennedy.
Three final defeats
that defeat Bob Paisley’s Liverpool was the last time that Real Madrid reached the final and lost. In all, Madrid have played a total of 16 European Cup/Champions League finalswinning 13 and losing three.
In 1998, Madrid won the trophy for the first time under the new format, Pedr Mijatovic’s winner delivered The seventh in Amsterdam. Triumphs against Valencia and Bayer Leverkusen followed in 2000 and 2002 – the latter memorable for Zidane’s breathtaking volleyball and heroics from a young Iker Casillas. Carlo Ancelotti’s Madrid finally secured the club’s tenth European crown, the tenthin 2014. Then a Madrid side led by Zidane became the first team to win three titles in a row with victories in 2016, 2017 and 2018
Real Madrid’s European Cup/Champions League finals
1956: Real Madrid 4-3 Stade Reims
1957: Real Madrid 2-0 Fiorentina
1958: Real Madrid 3-2 AC Milan
1959: Real Madrid 2-0 Stade Reims
1960: Real Madrid 7-3 Eintracht Frankfurt
1962: Benfica 5-3 Real Madrid
1964: Inter Milan 3-1 Real Madrid
1966: Real Madrid 2-1 Partizan
1981: Liverpool 1-0 Real Madrid
1998: Real Madrid 1-0 Juventus
2000: Real Madrid 3-0 Valencia
2002: Real Madrid 2-1 Bayer Leverkusen
2014: Real Madrid 4-1 Atletico Madrid
2016: Real Madrid 1-1 (5-3 pens) Atletico Madrid
2017: Real Madrid 4-1 Juventus
2018: Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism