Real Madrid: another broken record
The white team is the first team to reach the Champions League final despite losing three games in the elimination phase of the European competition.
What’s known to us
When Daniele Orsato signaled the end of the match between Madrid and Manchester City, the white players hugged each other in small groups scattered around the green of the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. For some, it will be their first Champions League final. For others, more seasoned, it will be their fourth, even fifth. The curious thing is that Madrid has been planted in the final on May 28 in Paris after losing three of the six knockout games : they lost to PSG by the minimum (1-0) in the round of 16; they fell to Chelsea at the Bernabéu (2-3) in the quarterfinals, and in the first leg of the semifinals against Manchester City (4-3). Nobody until now had fallen to different rivals to end up playing the decisive match… Until now, seven teams shared the same link: losing two games in the knockout stage: the first was Juventus, which fell precisely to Real Madrid in the 1995-96 season (1-0, Raúl’s goal) and to Nantes in the semi-finals (3-2). Even so, they played the final against Ajax, who were defending their title and became champions after defeating the Ajacied on penalties. Later it would be Valencia, in the 1999-2000 campaign, who would play the final after losing two games in the knockout phase: Cúper’s team, then the Valencian coach, lost to Lazio in the quarterfinals (1-0) and to Barcelona (2- 1) in semi-finals. In the 2003-04 edition it was Monaco who reached the final against Porto.The Monegasques fell in the round of 16 against Lokomotiv Moscow, and in the following phase they lost at the Bernabéu against Madrid just before achieving a spectacular comeback (3-1) at their stadium.
The details
The next to lose two games in the knockout phase was Liverpool (2006-07 season): the Reds lost at Anfield to Barcelona (0-1), but having won at the Camp Nou (1-2), the The double value of the goals gave them the pass to the next phase, to the round of 16. From there to the semi-finals, where they lost to Chelsea in the semi-finals. They reached the final, played in Athens, where they fell to Milan, with two goals from Inzaghi (2-1).