2023-06-10 07:03:50
Manchester City and Inter Milan will battle this Saturday at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul to succeed Real Madrid as winner of the Champions League. It would be the first ‘orejona’ for the ‘skyblue’ club and the fourth for the ‘neroazzurra’ entity, which already reigned in Europe in 1964 and 1965, led by Helenio Herrera, and once again established itself as master of the Old Continent in 2010 , under the aegis of José Mourinho.
The duel between the Mancunian team and the Lombard squad will mark the culmination of the 68th edition of a tournament that was born in 1955 under the name of the European Cup and was reformulated with the current format of the Champions League in the 1999-2000 campaign. Throughout all these campaigns, the star club competition has yielded an endless number of stories that can be summarized in the following figures.
Real Madrid dominates a competition with an iron fist in whose gestation the role played by Santiago Bernabéu was decisive. Under the presidency of the man from La Mancha, the Chamartín team won the first five editions of the tournament, establishing a record that no other club has been able to repeat. After five years away from the throne, the ye-yés returned Real Madrid to the pinnacle of European football, before a long 32-year drought ended by Pedja Mijatovic’s goal at the Amsterdam Arena. The generation led by Raúl González Blanco added two more ‘orejonas’ to the showcases of the Santiago Bernabéu, once again boosting an entity that has put more land in the way than its competitors with the five Champions League wins since 2014. In total, 14 titles, twice as many as his immediate rival, Milan.
Team that has lost the most finals
Team that has lost the most finals
Team that has lost the most finals
team that more finals
has lost
Real Madrid also leads the count of finals played by a long way. The whites have been in the decisive duel on 17 occasions, coming out victorious on 14 of them. Benfica, Inter Milan and Liverpool are the only teams that have managed to topple the king of Europe with the trophy at stake. Milan and Bayern Munich, both with 11 appearances, complete the podium in the finals played in the top continental competition. The ‘rossonero’ team has won seven and lost four, while the Bavarian team has emerged victorious on six occasions and was defeated on five.
Countries with the most titles
Countries with the most titles
Countries with the most titles
Countries with the most titles
The hegemony of Real Madrid in the Champions League has catapulted Spanish football to the top of the ranking by country in terms of number of titles. Spain boasts 17, since to the 14 that the Chamartín club counts, we must add the 5 that Barça adds. England follows with 14 (6 from Liverpool, 3 from Manchester United, 2 from Chelsea, 2 from Nottingham Forest and 1 from Aston Villa). Third place goes to Italy, which amalgamates 7 from Milan, 3 from Inter Milan and 2 from Juventus.
Players with more titles
Players with more titles
Players with more titles
Players with more titles
The individual ranking of titles is also covered by footballers who have worn or wore the Real Madrid jersey. 17 of the 19 players who have won five or more ‘orejonas’ have gone through the Chamartín club. The list is headed by Paco Gento, the umbilical cord between Real Madrid of the five consecutive European Cups and that of the ye-yés who triumphed in Brussels. La Galerna del Cantábrico continues to be the record holder of the European Cup with six trophies, one more than those that have been lifted by 18 other footballers. Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Costacurta, present in 5 of Milan’s 7 Champions League, are the only five-time European champions who have never paraded for Real Madrid.
1980/81
PRINCES PARK
PARIS FRANCE)
2017/18
NSC OLIMPIYSKIY
kyiv (UKRAINE)
2021/22
STADE DE FRANCE
PARIS FRANCE)
1980/81
PRINCES PARK
PARIS FRANCE)
2017/18
NSC OLIMPIYSKIY
kyiv (UKRAINE)
2021/22
STADE DE FRANCE
PARIS FRANCE)
1980/81
PRINCES PARK
PARIS FRANCE)
2017/18
NSC OLIMPIYSKIY
kyiv (UKRAINE)
2021/22
STADE DE FRANCE
PARIS FRANCE)
1980/81
PRINCES PARK
PARIS FRANCE)
2017/18
NSC OLIMPIYSKIY
kyiv (UKRAINE)
2021/22
STADE DE FRANCE
PARIS FRANCE)
Real Madrid and Liverpool are the two teams that have seen each other the most times in a final of the old European Cup. The ‘reds’ emerged victorious in the confrontation waged in the Parisian Parque de los Príncipes in 1981 thanks to a goal by Alan Kennedy that left Real Madrid de los García with honey on their lips. The whites took their revenge 37 years later at the Kiev Olympic Stadium, when a blunder by Loris Karius and a mischief by Benzema put the whites on track for a match that Gareth Bale would tie with a brace. Real Madrid also took the cat into the water in 2022, again in Paris although this time with the Stade de France as the stage. Vinicius’s target in the second half and a stratospheric performance by Courtois under the sticks elevated Chamartín’s team for the fourteenth time.
Top scorers in finals
Di Stéfano is also the player
Scored in most finals: 5
Top scorers in finals
Di Stéfano is also the player
Scored in most finals: 5
Top scorers in finals
Di Stéfano is also the player
Scored in most finals: 5
Top scorers in finals
Di Stéfano is also the player
Scored in most finals: 5
Alfredo Di Stéfano and Ferenc Puskas are the great gunners in the history of the European Cup finals. La Saeta Rubia left her mark by scoring in five games on the verge of the title, something that no other footballer has been able to do. The Argentinian scored Real Madrid’s first goal against the Stade de Reims in the 1956 final that the Whites won 4-3, opened the score at 2-0 that settled the decisive duel against Fiorentina a year later, sealed the momentary 1-1 against Milan in the 1958 final that saw the final triumph of the whites 3-2, closed the final 2-0 against Stade de Reims in 1959 and recorded a hat-trick in the historic 7 -3 against Eintracht in Frankfurt who turned Hampden Park into witness to one of the most exciting clashes of all time. In that match, the Hungarian Ferenc Puskas signed a poker, who would also score a hat-trick two years later against Benfica that was, however, sterile to give Real Madrid the title against a team led by Eusébio. Under the current format of the Champions League, the palm goes to Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored one with Manchester United and three with Real Madrid.
Most repeated result
in a final
18 of the 67 finals
they have been resolved by 1-0
Most repeated result in a final
18 of the 67 finals
they have been resolved by 1-0
Most repeated result in a final
18 of the 67 finals
they have been resolved by 1-0
Most repeated result in a final
18 of the 67 finals have been resolved 1-0
18 of the 67 finals of the old European Cup played to date have been resolved 1-0, the most repeated result in duels for the ‘orejona’. The first time this score was given was in the 1965 edition, when Inter Milan defeated Benfica with a solitary goal from Brazilian Jair da Costa. And the last one occurred last year, when Vinicius’s goal certified Real Madrid’s victory over Liverpool.
finals with major
goal difference
1959/60
HAMPDEN PARK
GLASGOW (SCOTLAND)
1973/74
KING BAUDOUIN STADIUM
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM)
1993/94
SPYROS LOUIS
ATHENS
Finals with the highest goal difference
1959/60
HAMPDEN PARK
GLASGOW (SCOTLAND)
1973/74
KING BAUDOUIN STADIUM
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM)
1993/94
SPYROS LOUIS
ATHENS
Finals with the highest goal difference
1959/60
HAMPDEN PARK
GLASGOW (SCOTLAND)
1973/74
KING BAUDOUIN STADIUM
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM)
1993/94
SPYROS LOUIS
ATHENS
Finals with the highest goal difference
1959/60
HAMPDEN PARK
GLASGOW (SCOTLAND)
1973/74
KING BAUDOUIN STADIUM
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM)
1993/94
SPYROS LOUIS
ATHENS
Up to four times, the champion has prevailed over the finalist with a four-goal advantage. In 1960, Real Madrid began by losing to Eintracht Frankfurt, but ended up winning 7-3 thanks to the enormous strike from Alfredo Di Stéfano and Ferenc Puskas.
Already in 1974, Bayern Munich left Atlético without an ‘orejona’ after endorsing the rojiblancos 4-0 in the tiebreaker game held in Brussels two days after the finalists had equaled one. In 1989, Milan destroyed Steaua Bucharest with the same score. Five years later, again the ‘rossoneros’, coached by Fabio Capello, massacred Johan Cruyff’s Barça 4-0 in Athens.
The fastest goal in a final
FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP
A historic left-back such as Paolo Maldini has the honor of having registered the earliest goal in a Champions League final. The Lombard footballer took only 51 seconds to open the scoring in the match between Milan and Liverpool on May 25, 2005 in Istanbul. However, the pulse ended up leaning on the side of the ‘reds’ in the penalty shootout after an epic comeback.
Youngest player to score in a final
REUTERS
Patrick Kluivert remains the youngest footballer to score in a Champions League final. The Dutch striker was 18 years and 327 days old when he scored in Vienna the goal that gave Ajax Amsterdam the fourth and so far the last ‘orejona’ that the ‘ajacied’ treasure.
That target served the later Barça attacker to become the second youngest footballer to win the Champions League. He is ahead of his then teammate Nwankwo Kanu in precocity, who was 18 years 296 days old that night when Louis van Gaal’s Ajax left Fabio Capello’s Milan with honey on their lips.
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