Real Madrid whitewashed the European classic of the last decade

The classic of European football par excellence, the pulse between Real Madrid, winner of 14 European Cups, and the Bayern Munich, who won six, was painted white by the Madrid team of the last decade, winner of the last three qualifying rounds without a single defeat, in a confrontation that will take place for the eighth time in the semifinals.

Real Madrid’s latest victories have managed to restore the overall balance of the history of confrontations, with twelve wins to eleven for Bayern in a a total of 26 duels, but they are still behind in their head-to-head semifinals. The German team reached the grand final four times and the Madrid player achieved it three times.

The reunion between the two European giants comes six years after the last chapter, when Real Madrid won their third consecutive tie, imposing dominance over the previous ones. Especially in Munichwhere he won in his last three visits.

The beginnings are very different, where each visit of real Madrid in the house of Bavaria It means defeat. This was the case from April 1976 until the same month in 2002. Seven consecutive games lost in Munich. A streak ended in a draw in 2004, in the first leg of the round of 16. The balance on German soil was nine defeats, three wins and one draw.

In their eleventh match at the Bayern Munich stadium, 38 years after the first, Real Madrid achieved their first victory. It is an exhibition, certainly the 0-4 of Carlo Ancelotti in the group led by Pep Guardiola, which changed history. The biggest victory at the Allianz Arena for either team in their particular match, has given way to two victories for Real Madrid in their last visits, 1-2 in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the 2016-17 season and 1-2 in semi-final first leg of the 2017-18 season.

Like every classic in the world of football, this rivalry has many aspects of players who made history. In the key of Madrid, the German team always appeared to be surpassed on the way to cover the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth and Twelfth. European Cups. The aim is to repeat this towards the Fifteenth.

While there are also notable upsets, painful omissions, anecdotal moments worth remembering such as a white fan’s punch to Bernabeu to the Austrian referee Erich Linemayr (Madrid closed the field for two games, which had to be played in Valencia and Malaga next season), sending off Amancio Amaro in his last game in Europe, stepping on Juanito in Lothar Matthäus or the fastest goal in the Champions League, scored by Dutchman Roy Makaay in 10.12 seconds in the second leg of the round of 16 of the 2006-07 edition.

Madrid’s good dynamic in the European classic started in 2012. On April 17, they suffered their last defeat, 2-1 at Allianz with a goal in the 90th minute from Mario Gomez. Since returning those semifinals, on April 25, with a 2-1 victory with a double Cristiano Ronaldo which was not enough to play in the final due to mistakes by the Portuguese, Kaká and Sergio Ramos in the penalty shootout. The Spanish team never lost again.

Up to six consecutive wins to turn history around. With exhibitions such as ‘Carletto’s’ 0-4 victory over Guardiola in the semi-finals and the 4-2 of Zinedine Zidane Ancelotti in the quarterfinals of the penultimate tie, with a hat trick from Cristiano Ronaldo who added his name to the history of great protagonists in a match that never stops adding new stars. Karim Benzema was the last, with a double of the last pulse, in the semifinals in 2018, a 2-2 in Bernabeu which ended the streak but not recent joy for Real Madrid fans.