The Madrid derby is set to grace the Champions League final for the second time in the tournament’s history when Real meet Atletico at the iconic San Siro this Saturday. The two teams famously met in the 2013-14 final, when Los Blancos won the fixture 4-1 and claimed the La Decima, their historic 10th Champions League title.
Things look better for Atletico this time around as the men in the red and white stripes knocked out German giants Bayern Munich and La Liga winners Barcelona, both of whom were favourites to win the title, on their way to the final and appear stronger than ever. Both the teams have already met twice this season in La Liga, with the Rojiblancos prevailing once and the teams taking a point each in the other encounter.
This final marks only the sixth time when teams from the same country are fighting for the honours. We take a look at the previous instances when encounters between clubs from the same nation have taken place in the UEFA Champions League final.
#1 Real Madrid vs Valencia (1999-2000)
The 1999-2000 Champions League season was dominated by Spanish teams, with three of the four semi-finalists hailing from Spain, viz. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Valencia. Madrid defeated previous year’s finalists Manchester United and Bayern Munich en route to the finale while Valencia saw off Lazio and Barcelona.
The final, which was played at the Stade de France in Paris saw Vincent del Bosque’s Real Madrid thrashValencia 3-0, as a Fernando Morientes header and Steve McManaman’s volley gave Madrid a 2-0 lead before Raul scoring a third to take the match out of Valencia’s reach.
The win was Real’s eighth European Cup Championship overall and their second in three seasons. It was a landmark for being the first match where clubs from the same country competed in the final and was also the first time that an Englishman, Steve Mcmanaman, won the tournament with a foreign club.
#2 AC Milan vs Juventus (2002-03)
In the first-all Italian final, AC Milan and Juventus met at Old Trafford in the 2003 Champions League final. At the end it was Milan who came out winners at the Theatre of Dreams to record their sixth European title and first in nine seasons.
Juventus were soaring high going into this final, having been crowned as champions of Italy for the 27th time while Milan finished 16 points below them in the fourth position. The sides had met twice in the league; the encounters finishing 1-1 and 1-0 in favour of Juventus. They also met in the semi-finals of Coppa Italia and Juventus still got the better of Carlo Ancelotti’s men by knocking them out following a 3-2 aggregate win.
The match stirred up quite a few controversies from both sides. Milan had an Andriy Shevchenko goal ruled out after Rui Costa was deemed to have blocked Gianluigi Buffon’s vision standing in an offside position with replays clearly suggesting otherwise. Both the sides also hit the woodwork, with Andrea Pirlo hitting the framework for Milan few minutes after Antonio Conte’s header had glanced off the post for Juve.
Ninety minutes did not prove enough to separate the two sides and the game went into a penalty-shootout. Both Dida and Buffon caused further controversy by allegedly being off the goal line while making the penalty saves. Juventus missed three of their penalties, and Milan eventually prevailed 3-2 with Shevchenko scoring the winner.
#3 Manchester United vs Chelsea (2007-08)
The 2008 Champions League final was the first European Cup final to be played in Russia, and first time ever that two English clubs had made it to the final of the tournament. It was even more special for Manchester United as it marked the 100th anniversary of their first league triumph, the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster as well as the 40th anniversary of their first European Cup victory. The final was United’s third and Chelsea’s first ever.
Chelsea’s road to the final was a rocky one, having had to turn around a 2-1 first leg deficit against Fenerbache in the quarter-finals. They met Liverpool in the semis and edged the fixture in extra-time in the second leg. Manchester United meanwhile were pitted against Catalan giants Barcelona in the Semi-finals and knocked them out by a 1-0 aggregate margin.
Chelsea went into the final wanting to avenge missing out on the League title to the Red Devils by just two points. Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring for United in the 26th minute and Chelsea responded by levelling the score just before half-time courtesy of a Frank Lampard strike.
The match moved into extra time, and the scenes on the pitch became ugly as a fight broke out in the second half of extra time, following which Chelsea’s Didier Drogba was sent off. John Terry famously slipped to miss his penalty in the subsequent shootout, and Edwin van der Sar saved Nikolas Anelka’s penalty to end the match 6-5 on penalties, crowning Manchester United champions of Europe.
#4 Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund (2012-13)
Adolf Hitler’s dream finally became a reality in some sense as England was flooded with Germans for at least one night, as the 2013 Champions League final saw an all-German final take place at the Wembley Stadium as Bayern Munich took on domestic rivals Borussia Dortmund.
In what was widely termed as a “power-shift” and a “change of guard”, Both the German contingents had stunned the footballing world by defeating Real Madrid and Barcelona in the semi-finals. Bayern had absolutely thrashed defending champions Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate while Dortmund had pulled off a huge upset over Madrid by winning 4-3 on aggregate.
The star of Dortmund’s semi-final being Robert Lewandowski, who became the first player to score four goals in a Champions League semi-final match in the 4-1 first leg win over the Los Blancos.
The first half of the final was all about Jurgen Klopp’s yellow army who were clearly the dominant side, pressing hard and keeping Manuel Neuer on his toes, forcing him into five important saves within 35 minutes. However, Bayern opened the scoring through Mario Mandzukic in the 60th minute which was equalized by a penalty buried past Neuer by Ilkay Gundogan.
Man of the Match Arjen Robben had the last say as he went on to clinch the title for Munich, scoring in the 89th minute leaving Dortmund fans heart-broken.
#5 Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid (2013-14)
The 2014 Champions League final has a special place in the record books, as this was the final when Real Madrid won their record 10th European Cup title. It was also the first time in the tournament’s history that clubs from the same city were meeting in the final.
Real had seen off Borussia Dortmund and title holders Bayern Munich in the quarters and semi-finals whereas Atletico had defeated Barcelona and Chelsea on their way to the Derby game. Cristiano Ronaldo had broken the record of most number of goals in a single Champions League campaign by scoring 16 goals and led Real Madrid to a formidable tally of 37 goals.
Diego Simeone’s men on the other hand, were scripting an epic underdog story, having already been crowned the La Liga champions.
The match was held at the Estadio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal. The Rojiblancos were hit hard as their star-striker, Diego Costa was forced to limp off the field in as early as the eighth minute. Despite Costa coming off, Atletico took the lead through Diego Godin’s headed goal in the 36th minute.
They held on to their one-goal leaded, defending their lines in the typical Atletico Madrid way, and were looking to cruise to their first ever Champions League win. But all Atletico hearts were shattered as Sergio Ramos equalized in the 3rd minute of injury time to force the game into extra time.
The equalizer broke the spirits of the men in red and white stripes, and Real went on to win the game 4-1, Gareth Bale, Marcelo and Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a goal each.
