The highest profile cup competition in club football reaches it’s climax next Saturday. The Spanish capital is divided as Real Madrid take on Athletico Madrid in the Champions League Final in Milan, Italy.
This is a repeat of the 2014 final. In that final Athletico thought they had it won only for Real to equalise in the third minute of stoppage time to force it into extra time, which they subsequently scored 3 more time to run out 4 -1, and ended in ugly scenes in which Athletico’s manager Diego Simeone was sent off.
You can expect a normal fired up Simeone in this game too, although he will be opposite the ever cool, calm and collected Zinedine Zidane. Zidane is only 5 months into his first managerial job having replaced Rafa Benitez in January at the Bernabeu. He actually scored the goal that won them the 2002 Champions League final.
Real Madrid were unbeaten in the group stage winning 5 and drawing 1 from a group including PSG, Shakhtar, and Malmo. They saw off Roma 4-0 on aggregate in the last 16 knockout competition. In the quart-finals they looked to be heading out as they trailed German team Wolfsberg 2-0 from the first leg, but a Ronaldo hattrick in the second leg saw them advance, where they met Manchester City in the semis, and in two largely unforgettable games won 1-0 on aggregate thanks to a Fernando own goal.
Naturally the main threat from Real comes in the form of Christiano Ronaldo who has scored 51 goals in all competitions this season. After that Frenchman Karim Benzema has 28 goals, and Gareth Bale has 19 (although none in the Champions League).
Obviously the teams have met twice in their domestic league this season, with the honours being shared after a 1-1 draw in Athletico in October, however in the return fixture at the Bernabeu in February Athletico took the honours thanks to a second half goal from Antoine Griezmann, although quite ominously Real went on from there to win their final 12 straight games of the season as they finished second in La Liga (1 place and 2 points ahead of Athletico).
As for Athletico’s road to the final, well they topped their group that contained Benfica, Galatasaray, and Astana. Their last 16 match against Dutch side PSV failed to produce a goal over 210 minutes of both legs, and was settled on penalties, with Madrid coming out on the 8-7. That set up a huge clash with La Liga rivals and reigning Champions Barcelona. In a fiery first leg they took the lead, but after having Fernando Torres sent off after 35 minutes eventually slipped to a 2-1 defeat, but in the reverse fixture Athletico won 2-0 thanks to a brace from Antoine Griezmann. In the Semi they faced off against German giants Bayern Munich. They won the first leg 1-0, and for all the slipped to defeat 2-1 in the second leg the all important away goal scored by that man Griezmann was enough to send them into the final.
As you might imagine, their biggest threat comes in the form of Frenchman Griezmann, who has 32 goals this season, followed by former Liverpool and Chelsea striker Fernando Torres.
The final is being held at the San Siro stadium in Milan and will be refereed by Premier League official Mark Clattenburg. It can be viewed for free on BT Sport.