5 Greatest Champions League matches in Real Madrid's history
Real Madrid own the Champions League. 12 titles, 3 in the last 4, there are no bigger names in Europe.
Over the 62 years they've been playing at this elite level, Madrid have had their fair share of ups and downs (more ups than anyone else in history, but that's beside the point) and so it's difficult to pick out 5 out-and-out best performances, but we've tried our best.
If your pick doesn't make the cut, do feel free to let us know in the comments below:
#5. Real Madrid 3 - 0 Valencia, 24/05/2000
It's not often that Real Madrid walk into a match as second favourites, but back in 2000, Hector Cuper's Valencia were on an absolute roll - finishing the league easily above Los Blancos - and entered the match as favourites.
Shambhu Ajith and I had had a chat with Gaizka Mendieta the other day and he'd recounted that day with a whimsical smile: "[In '00] Madrid was better than us, they play so well. During the season we were on fire, we played so well we go to the final, Madrid was 7th or 8th in the table [they ended up 5th], and they had to win to qualify for Europe to save their season – and they absolutely played us [off the park]"
They did play them off the park. Fernando Morientes, Steve McManaman, and the ubiquitous Raul Gonzalez all got on the scoresheet, Madrid dominated from beginning to end... and no. 9 was in the bag with a performance of supreme authority.