A European classic 14 years later

Since November 3, 2010, when he real Madrid tied two goals against Milan With their visit to the San Siro on the fourth day of the Champions League group stage, a European football classic pitting the two most successful teams in the European Cup against each other was never held again. The former Madrid ogre visited a Santiago Bernabéu where he barely won once.

The fifteen ‘orejonas’ of Real Madrid and the seven of Milan jThey will spread 22 conquests on the Bernabéu grass in the European match which brings together the most victories. A classic where Bayern Munich came first in recent history, with more confrontations against the king of Europe.

In memory, going back in time during the fourteen years that have passed since the last previous ones, historical clashes appear such as the last victory in Brussels in 1958 by the Madrid team or the superiority of the Italian against the ‘Quinta del Vulture’, to the one who prevents him from being crowned.

However, at the Santiago Bernabéu, the milan tIt took 53 years to win. That’s the time that passed between April 1956, when they lost 4-2 in the semi-final first leg of their first visit, to October 2009, the only date on which they won from eight matches at the temple of Real Madrid. It was in the group stage and they won 2-3 with goals from Pirlo and a double from Brazilian Pato, his last goal in the 88th minute to nullify goals scored by Raúl González and Royston Drenthe .

A historic rivalry with alternating dominance in different decades that brings absolute equality in the total number of matches in the most prestigious competition in Europe. Fifteen times, always in the Champions League, the former European Cup, their paths crossed Real Madrid and Milan, six wins for each team and three draws. A total of 24 goals were scored by the Spanish team and 25 by the Italian team.

There is a time Milan became Real Madrid’s bête noire in Europe in the 1980s. Baresi, Maldini, Rijkaard, Gullit, Van Basten and also Carlo Ancelotti, the current Madrid coach who brought so much glory to the white club, deprived the ‘Quinta del Buitre’ of raising its legend to the coveted European Cup.

Two consecutive seasons destroyed the white dreams, with a terrible 5-0 in the semifinals and 2-0 in the round of 16, distancing the ‘Seventh’ from one of the best generations of the white house.

The encounters have never been so decisive since then, with rounds of little importance, especially the last ones, in 2009 and 2010, where they traded blows. Milan’s first victory in Madrid (2-3) and the draw in San Siro (1-1); Madrid’s comfortable victory at the Bernabéu with early goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Özil (2-0) and the draw in Italy (2-2) with Pedro León’s 94th-minute goal before being ‘convicted’ by José Mourinho , who gave the pass to the round of 16 with two rounds left to play.

The two clubs in the heart of Ancelotti

He succeeded as a player in Milan’s midfield Ancelotti, between 1987 and 1992, and later as a coach from 2001 to 2009, winning the European Cup four times, twice as a footballer and two more on the bench. One of the two teams in his heart, as ‘Carletto’ always admits, with a Real Madrid that enhanced his legend.

This is the first time they will face Milan in the Champions League and its balance as a rival is positive. In fifteen matches they lost only three with five wins and seven draws. While none of those precedents will be as special as the one that will take place on Tuesday at the Santiago Bernabéu, the day the two teams that marked Ancelotti’s career meet.