Real Madrid vs. AC Milan: Classical Clashes of the Past
It’s the mother of all clashes in Champions League football for the purists as two European powerhouses lock horns with each other for yet another time in search of the ultimate glory in club football.
Santiago Barnabeau will host the 7-time European Champions, AC Milan in a classic encounter and it’s only a pity that two teams of such magnitude are only clashing in the group stages. Real Madrid and AC Milan have won the competition a staggering 16 times
between them with Real winning it 9 times and AC claiming the trophy on 7 occasions.
No other teams in the world have won the competition more than these two and tonight it will be a clash between money and principles as a revamped Real Madrid side takes on a reinvigorated AC Milan.
In the past, these sides have clashed on various occasions and following is the list of 5 classic encounters between the two giants:
Real Madrid 3-2 Milan, European Cup Final, 1957-58:
The Los Blancos met the Rosseneris for the first time in the semi final of the 1956 European Cup, when Madrid beat Milan to go on and lift the trophy but only two years later, both sides met again in the final of the competition and Milan were looking to
avenge the defeat.
Milan took the lead in the match when Juan Alberto Schiaffino scored for the Italians but only minutes later, Madrid restored the parity with Alfredo Di Stefano scoring fifteen minutes from time. Two more goals followed in the last 10 minutes as Ernesto
Grillo scored for Milan but an Alfred Di Stefano strike late in the game send the match into extra time.
Francisco Gento became the hero for the Spanish side in extra time as his goal then made sure that Real won the competition for the 4th time in a row.
Real Madrid 4-1 Milan, European Cup Quarter-final, 1963-64:
Milan won their first ever European title in 1963 and were eager to successfully defend it a year later but in the quarter finals of the 1964 competition, they came up against Real Madrid and that too without the services of Giovanni Trappatoni and Dino
Sani, both of whom were injured for the clash.
Matters compounded for the Rosseneris as Paolo Maldini’s father, Cesar Maldini also limped off the field early on and Madrid took full advantage of their opponents’ misfortune as they raced on to a 4 goal lead in no time with goals from Alfred Di Stefano,
Ferenc Puskas, Amancio Amaro and Genti.
Although, Giovanni Lodetti pulled one goal back for the visitors but Real were too strong for their opponents on the night. The return leg was won by Milan 2-0 but Real progressed to the finals where Inter Milan beat them to lift the trophy.
Milan 5-0 Real Madrid, European Cup Semi-Final, 1988-89:
The two European powerhouses met again in the semi final of the 1989 competition where Real Madrid won the first leg 1-0 but were totally outclassed by Milan in the second leg, getting thrashed by the Rosseneris 5-0 at San Siro.
The prolific attacking line up of Hugo Sanchez, Bernd Schuster and Emilio Butragueno failed to find a way past the Milan back four as Carlo Ancelotti, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Marco Van Basten and Roberto Donadoni ran riot on the pitch.
The Milan giants went on to win the final as well, beating Steau Bucharest by 4 goals to nil.
Real Madrid 2-3 Milan, Champions’ League Group Stages, 2009-10:
The last time these two sides met in Europe was only last year when the two sides played each other in the group stages.
A horrible howler by Dida allowed Raul to open the scoring for Milan but on the hour mark, Andrea Pirlo leveled for Milan and Pato gave the Rosseneri the lead soon after that but only to be equalized by Roysten Drenthe, a few minutes later.
In the dying minutes of the game, Pato broke the Les Meringues heart with a winner in injury time.
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