5 reasons why Real Madrid will become the first team to retain the Champions League
Only 22 teams have lifted Europe’s most coveted trophy since its inception in 1955. While in the initial years, the likes of Real Madrid, Benfica, Inter Milan, Ajax, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest all managed to win the competition in successive seasons, no team has been able to repeat the feat since the introduction of the new format in 1997; with the rule change meaning that teams that weren’t the champions of their respective leagues were allowed to participate in the competition as well
While every year sees proclamations of how the previous year’s champion has great odds at retaining the crown, it has never been one that has come true; however, we feel this year it might finally be the year that the jinx is broken.
When a team of Real Madrid’s calibre is the defending champion, it would be rash to simply write-off their chances of going all the way twice in a row considering they’ve previously managed to do win 5 times in a row, albeit 60 years ago.
Here we present our reasons why we feel Los Blancos will walk away at the end of the season as champions of Europe once again.
#5 History is on their side
While Europe’s premier competition has boasted of some truly talented teams over the course of its existence, no team has a more storied history in the competition than Los Blancos.
Real Madrid are the most successful side in Champions League history, having lifted the most coveted prize in club football an incredible 11 times over the years; AC Milan and Bayern Munich with 7 wins, Barcelona and Liverpool with 5 wins, their closest rivals.
Among their victories is also a sequence of five consecutive wins when the competition was initially introduced, with the capital club winning each of the iterations from 1955-1960, winning with an aggregate score of 18-8 in the finals’. While this already makes for impressive reading, they’ve also been in three further finals which they didn’t manage to win.
They also have a history in European competitions which predates the birth of the Champions League; between 1949 and 1957, they competed in the Latin Cup, winning two out of the eight editions held. Beyond the Champions League, they can also boast of extensive experience in other continental competitions; Los Merengues have won the UEFA Cup twice, in 1985 and 1986, the Super Cup three times in 2002, 2014 and 2016, the Intercontinental Cup 3 times in 1960, 1998 and 2002, and also the FIFA Club World Cup twice.
With 21 trophies, they are the most successful side in European football and take all these factors into account and realise that no team boasts the same experience or the same understanding of continental football like they do, and when the knockout rounds begin, it would be foolish to bet against them.