Real Madrid’s fourteenth ‘orejona’ increases the legend of the king of Europe in his favorite league
Four years later, Real Madrid sits on the continental throne. The fourteenth ‘orejona’, raised after passing a bill in Paris from Liverpool, the same rival who succumbed to the insatiable gluttony of the whites in the Kiev Olympic, makes the legend of the Chamartín club gigantic and widens the king’s chasm of Europe in his favorite match.
Whether in black and white or color, Real Madrid’s hegemony in the star club tournament is undeniable. His reign began at the start of the competition with the unparalleled run of five consecutive European Cups. He had a coda with the Sixth, tied up by the ‘ye-yé’ team in the mid-1960s, and was resurrected 32 years later in Amsterdam with that Pedja Mijatovic goal that kicked him out of a very long journey across the desert. unleashed madness on the streets of the Spanish capital with a great reception for the heroes who tamed Juventus and once again gave all the meaning in the world to that endearing off-road vehicle advertisement that was all the rage in the 1990s: “And Madrid, what? European champion again, right?
It was the beginning of the second royal cycle of the Concha Espina entity, which was to be expanded with two more wounds in four years. But the best was yet to come. More than a decade after Zinedine’s volley of Zidane surrendered Hamden Park, the long-awaited Tenth fell, which served as the prelude to another unusual feat: the string of three champions without brakes that he attached with the architect of the Ninth to the steering and the famous ‘BBC’ as flag. Everything indicated that the last of those conquests would become the swan song of a golden generation. But the troop commanded by Benzema has once again shown that they have more lives than a cat, diving into the stratosphere.
At an astonishing distance from the irreducible monarch of the continent are Milan (7), Liverpool and Bayern Munich (6), direct but very distant pursuers of a team heading for perfection at the decisive moment: 14 victorious attacks in 17 attempts. Real Madrid don’t play finals, it wins them.
This extraordinary reliability leads the script of Di Stéfano and Gento, banners of the first five ascents to the top. Stade de Reims, Fiorentina, Milan, again Stade de Reims and Eintracht Frankfurt, in which the oldest players of the place consider the best final in history, gave in succession to the club of the whites, also driven by the Kopa, Rial, Puskas and company. Eusébio’s Benfica and Luis Suárez’s and Sandro Mazzola’s Inter got in his way at the Olympic in Amsterdam and the Prater in Vienna respectively, although Pirri, Amancio, Serena and a long etcetera took him back to the top by beating Partizan in Brussels. There was the incombustible Gento, the umbilical cord between Di Stéfano’s Madrid and that of the ‘ye-yés’.
Then came a very long drought. Cruyff’s Ajax and Beckenbauer’s Bayern took over as superpowers, while Chamartín’s team languished in Europe. Stage fright reigned in the 1980s, but the main backdrop for those epic comebacks was the UEFA Cup. The valley of tears in the European Cup caught the ‘Madrid de los García’ and the Quinta del Buitre.
The grandparents told their grandchildren about the old domain of the club of their loves. Without those black-and-white images and the dusty newspaper library, it would have been a strong story for many. But the waters returned to their canal in Amsterdam. Coming off a dull course, Jupp Heynckes’ team left a Juventus moving at Zidane’s dictation with honey on its lips, burying the ghosts that gripped Real Madrid.
Freed from those demons, Real Madrid took on Valencia two years later in the first all-Spanish Champions League final with goals from Morientes, McManaman and Raul solving the game at the Stade de France. And in 2002 he repeated it again by beating Bayer Leverkusen in Glasgow with a Raul trick and a Zidane museum piece.
The ‘curse of the round of 16’ crushed white hopes six years in a row. José Mourinho broke the curse, but the controversial Setúbal coach crashed into the wall of the semi-final three times. With Carlo Ancelotti, the gates of heaven opened again for Real Madrid, who defeated Atlético in Lisbon in a blood-curdling final. And his outstanding student Zidane founded a dynasty that breathlessly surrendered to the mattresses in Milan, Juventus in Cardiff and Liverpool in Kiev on the back of a huge Cristiano. The Portuguese ruined the celebration in the Ukrainian capital and his departure turned successive attacks on the fourteenth into a wasteland. Until Benzema and Courtois rubbed the lamp again.
Source: La Verdad
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