Sports Mole takes a closer look at Real Madrid’s record in the European Cup/Champions League final ahead of Saturday’s showdown with Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium.
Seeking to win a record-extending 15th European title, Real Madrid do battle with Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.
Carlo Ancelotti‘s side finished top of Group C with a perfect record before navigating their way past RB Leipzig, holders Manchester City and Bayern Munich in the knockout rounds, beating the latter 4-3 on aggregate in the semi-finals.
Los Blancos are no strangers to the biggest fixture in European club football and they will be regarded as favourites to come out on top against a Dortmund outfit who have reached just their third final in Europe’s premier club competition.
Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at Real Madrid’s record in the European Cup/Champions League final ahead of Saturday’s showdown in London.
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Since the European Cup was formed 69 years ago, and later rebranded as the Champions League in 1992, Real Madrid have played in a total of 17 finals – the most of any team in history – and they will take part in their 18th final on Saturday.
Los Blancos have triumphed in 14 of their 17 finals to date, winning six European Cups and eight Champions Leagues, while they have lost in the showpiece event on just three occasions.
Real Madrid were the winners of the first five European Cup finals between 1956 and 1960, before losing in two of the next four finals to Benfica (1962) and Inter Milan (1964). Los Blancos then beat the latter en route to winning their sixth European crown two years later, securing a 2-1 victory in the final over Partizan Belgrade.
The early dominance of the Spanish giants dried up during a 30-year-old period between the late 1960s and late 1990s when they reached just one European Cup final, losing 1-0 to a strong Liverpool outfit in 1981 – Los Blancos have since never lost in the final to date.
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Real Madrid eventually reclaimed Europe’s top prize in club football in their first Champions League final in 1998, edging past Juventus by a 1-0 scoreline in Amsterdam courtesy of a second-half strike from Predrag Mijatovic.
That triumph was the first of three over a five-year period – also beating Valencia (2000) and Bayer Leverkusen (2002) during this run – before they got their hands on ‘La Decima’ in 2014 after winning a pulsating final against city rivals Atletico Madrid by a 4-1 scoreline after extra time.
Los Blancos edged past Atletico again just two years later, winning on penalties in the 2016 final, and this was the first of three consecutive triumphs, followed by a 4-1 win over Juventus and a 3-1 victory over Liverpool, under the tutelage of Zinedine Zidane.
Real Madrid celebrated winning their 14th European title in their most recent final two seasons ago when they secured a slender 1-0 victory over Liverpool in Paris thanks to a second-half goal from Vinicius Junior.
Across their 17 European Cup/Champions League finals, Real Madrid have scored a total of 41 goals – netting at least twice on 11 occasions – and have conceded 23 goals. Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas have scored the most goals for Los Blancos in the final with seven each, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Hector Rial are next on the list with three each.
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