‘It’s happening again’ – Real Madrid’s special relationship with the UCL

This article was first published on April 26, 2022, before Real Madrid's Champions League semi-final first leg with Manchester City. The Spanish club went on to win the trophy last year, and on Wednesday face Liverpool in their 300th match in the competition.

“After the game, you would look at your team-mates and say, 'Madre mia, how were we capable of doing that?',” former Real Madrid forward Predrag Mijatovic says. “We ourselves did not even know how it was possible. It is an incredible symbiosis of the fans with the players and with the club, to transform yourselves in this competition, from European Cup to Champions League, to make history.”

Mijatovic is talking about 1997-98, when Madrid won their seventh European Cup, during a season in which they stumbled through La Liga and eventually finished fourth.

Over two decades later, the Spain-based Serbian has been watching closely this season as Madrid have again defied the odds through incredible rollercoaster victories in the last-16 against Paris Saint-Germain and quarter-finals versus Chelsea.

“It is happening again this season,” Mijatovic, who was also sporting director at the Bernabeu between 2006 and 2009, tells The Athletic. “The games against PSG and Chelsea were difficult to explain rationally.

“You can do an analysis of footballing things, but there are other things which cannot be analysed – that energy, that symbiosis between the players and the fans. In 10 minutes, they are capable of turning things around completely on the pitch. It is difficult to explain in words how everything transforms, the whole club, the fans, the players themselves.”

Such transformations have been regular as Madrid have won the European Cup a record 13 times, with the club's history of unlikely comebacks having built a unique self-identity and self-confidence in the competition.

Something similarly special is likely to be needed by Carlo Ancelotti's side in their semi-final against Manchester City. Ahead of the first leg at the Etihad tonight (Tuesday), and the return next Wednesday at the Bernabeu, Pep Guardiola's City are favourites on paper to reach the final in Paris next month and, for most neutrals, have the better and more balanced squad.

But no such rational analysis can predict what will happen over the 180 minutes of the tie, as Madrid's history in the competition has shown.

Real Madrid's association with the European Cup goes right back to helping found the competition.

Legendary club president Santiago Bernabeu was one of the primary movers, along with French sports newspaper L'Equipe's then-editor Gabriel Hanot, in establishing the tournament. A Madrid team including original galacticos Alfredo Di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas and Paco Gento then won the first five tournaments, feeding a feeling that the trophy was somehow “their own”.

“Players who arrive at Real Madrid know that its socios (members) and followers consider this competition as something that is 'theirs',” former Madrid president Roman Calderon tells The Athletic. “The fact that our club was one of the founders, and won the first five trophies after it was created, produced a very special effect that transforms the players who take part in it wearing our jersey.”

Other clubs may question Madrid's “ownership” of the trophy, but it is something that many of the Spanish side's lifelong fans undeniably feel is true in their bones, unlike even other clubs with great histories in the tournament, such as AC Milan (seven wins), Bayern Munich, Liverpool (six each) and Barcelona (five).

This sense of ownership also brings great pressure for everyone at Madrid. Seeing other clubs win the trophy hurts, and players, coaches and presidents are especially aware of this during “droughts” without a victory.

A sixth European Cup in 1966 was followed by a fallow period lasting over three decades, finally ended by Mijatovic's late goal in the 1998 final against Juventus.

“Those of us who have played at Real Madrid always know that this is a complicated club, very difficult to play for,” Mijatovic says. “When the team enters this competition, for its history, for the demands, it knows it has to give the maximum possible, for the club to remain on this level. On a psychological level, many times, it affects the players. If you are not up to it, you know you will not last long here in the team.”

Madrid quickly won two more Champions League titles in 2000 and 2002 under Vicente del Bosque, before another long frustrating wait. They had great players – Ronaldo, David Beckham, Fabio Cannavaro, Cristiano Ronaldo – but kept falling short.

One of these painful exits came against Liverpool, in the 2008-09 last 16. Former Madrid youth-teamer and future senior coach Rafa Benitez picked a Liverpool XI specifically for the 1-0 first-leg victory at the Bernabeu, including leaving star midfielder Steven Gerrard, then at the peak of his powers, on the bench.

“It was a fantastic performance from us — a typical Rafa Benitez-type performance,” Gerrard tells The Athletic. “We were really tough to play against, in a low block, no space. We scored on a transition – Yossi Benayoun from a cross into the box on a free kick. I was a late sub, so the credit obviously was for the majority of my team-mates. It was an incredible win.” Liverpool then won the second leg 4-0 at Anfield.

The pressure was even greater on Madrid when they faced true outsiders Lyon at the same stage the following season. Even after they lost the first leg 1-0 in France, everyone expected Manuel Pellegrini's team to progress after Cristiano Ronaldo scored early in the return at the Bernabeu. But it did not turn out that way, as Lyon's then-coach Claude Puel explains.

“It was a difficult moment for us early, as we went 1-0 down,” Puel says. “Real were playing very well, with great players. We also had injuries to two key players. But we changed the system at half-time, and came back into the game, with high intensity, quality and possession of the ball. We scored with (Miralem) Pjanic, and deserved to score another goal. It was a fantastic victory for us.”

Puel says that the key to that game was in the mentality – both how his players were able to handle the situation and how the tension weighed down on the shoulders of the Madrid ones.

“This season, they had bought Ronaldo and Kaka,” Puel says. “It was a fantastic team, fantastic players — and the final was at the Bernabeu. That was a big pressure. In the second half, Real's players were very nervous. We did not recognise them – they were afraid. I was surprised to see this team losing their quality, with all the good players they had.”

That defeat led to Madrid hiring Jose Mourinho as coach, but he could not get the team past the semi-finals in three successive seasons. Even when Mourinho's team won the 2011-12 La Liga, beating Guardiola's Barcelona and achieving a record points tally, it was not enough for many around the Bernabeu.

Any coach, player or president unable to reclaim “their” trophy can expect to be called a failure.

This helps explain why legends such as Zinedine Zidane, Iker Casillas and Cristiano Ronaldo have been whistled by their own fans — as for Madrid's socios, it is such high demands which drive their team forward to more successes.

“It's true that our fans are very demanding and their reactions when the team is not playing at the level expected can sometimes unsettle the players,” Calderon says.

“At this club, winning is not a success, it is an obligation.

“Without any doubt, there is an extra motivation that pushes the players to never give up on any game. That is why we have won more trophies than any other team, and are the best club in the history of football.”

That agonising long wait for the “Decima”, a tenth European Cup, ended in 2014, during Ancelotti's first spell as Madrid coach, when city neighbours Atletico were beaten in dramatic fashion in Lisbon after extra time forced by Sergio Ramos' stoppage-time equaiser.

That set off a run of four European Cup final triumphs in five seasons, which again reinforced the idea that Madrid were the kings of this competition.

Sure, they could still have some sticky moments within ties, but a team including Cristiano Ronaldo, Ramos, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and Karim Benzema always backed themselves to get out of it, especially when they had the second leg at home at the Bernabeu. It could be a fantastic individual performance, debatable refereeing calls or inexplicable mistakes by visiting players, but things generally went their way.

The idea that “90 minutes at the Bernabeu is very long”, first coined by Madrid forward Juanito in the 1980s, also became part of club folklore. Each Champions League game at the stadium can bring a rollercoaster of emotions, and both teams need to handle the pressure, react to setbacks and capitalise on opportunities.

The present squad know better than anyone how to make the most of decisive moments within games, says Mijatovic.

“The current Real Madrid team is a historic team – winning many trophies, three consecutive Champions Leagues,” he says. “So, even when things are not going well, you know you have this potential.

“But something needs to be activated, to provide this little spark which activates a giant which had been sleeping. It can be anything. Against PSG, it was a mistake by (goalkeeper Gianluigi) Donnarumma — or intelligence of Benzema — but after this goal, the monster was awake. It is like in a cartoon, anything can happen.

“Against Chelsea too, you are playing a (bad) game and the other team are winning 3-0. Then, suddenly, a marvellous assist from Modric and the monster has awoken again. And that scares the opponents — they don't know what is going to come next.”

Mijatovic says many of the current team's most experienced players have learned from personal experience how to handle such moments and pressures within ties. They are well aware of the consequences of early exits from the Champions League, and the potential glory if they win it.

“Players who stay many years at Real Madrid, competing at a high level, have to be great champions,” Mijatovic says. “It is not easy to live with the same pressure, year after year.

“When a year ends without a trophy, it is a tremendous failure and people have to leave. That is what Real Madrid is. But it also gives you many things, more than any other club can. Succeeding in Real Madrid means you are succeeding on a world stage, failing at Real Madrid is also a very public failure. Everyone on the planet knows, for good or bad. That is why Real Madrid players have to be very well prepared, not just in a football sense, but mentally.”

Madrid have had their own slip-ups in recent years too. They managed to lose 4-1 at home to Ajax to crash out of the 2018-19 competition in the last 16, and last year against eventual champions Chelsea in the semi-finals they just never got going.

The current team is clearly not at the level of five years ago – Cristiano Ronaldo and Ramos have left, Modric, Benzema and Kroos are well into their 30s. But Puel points to a maturity within the squad, and how those older players are able to pull their younger colleagues along with them.

“Madrid have a lot of maturity now — they have a good mix between older and younger players,” Puel says. “I can see Karim Benzema is now a complete player with a fantastic mentality and quality. The most important is the maturity – Karim made the difference against PSG. Sometimes one player can give confidence to the whole team.

“In the first leg, I did not recognise Real Madrid. They cannot play, no pressing, no quality, no passing. Also, the first hour in the Bernabeu. A mistake from the goalkeeper changes the shape of the game and it all changes. It is difficult for all the teams in the Champions League to have the same confidence level for the whole game. For Real against Lyon (in 2010), they lost their confidence and they could not find the solution to come back into the game. It was the same for PSG this season.”

Current coach Ancelotti is the man who ended the long wait for the Decima in 2014, yet was sacked 12 months later after only reaching the semi-finals. He also saw his Bayern Munich team overrun in extra time at the Bernabeu in the 2016-17 quarter-finals. The Italian's substitutions in the second legs against PSG and Chelsea this year helped his team through both ties, with the surprise decision to replace the control of Kroos with the energy of 19-year-old Eduardo Camavinga against Chelsea working spectacularly well.

“Ancelotti has a huge amount of experience in great clubs around Europe,” Mijatovic says. “This is his second spell here, he knows the place inside-out. He can manage this team very well, and knows what he has to do, he's a very good coach. But I believe that even Carlo himself gets surprised when, suddenly, this monster wakes up. These are 10 or 15 minutes when he is wondering what is happening, as it never happened to him at any other team before.”

These moments of amazing energy and confidence can propel younger players such as Camavinga and forward Rodrygo, 21, to phenomenal performances that lift their careers to a new level.

“Rodrygo and Camavinga are young and have not played much, but they belong to Real Madrid,” Mijatovic says. “So they have this obligation to take advantage of this half an hour, or 10 minutes, when they come in. That is the only way to survive and to continue the history and the madness of Real Madrid.

“The fans then adore you, and your own team-mates too. It is a tremendous way to present yourself. That way, you create a player that some day could be an automatic starter or a world star.”

Guardiola is well aware of Madrid's heritage in the Champions League. The former Barcelona player and coach oversaw one of the most painful exits during that long wait for the Decima, when his Barcelona team won 2-0 at the Bernabeu in the first leg of a semi-final en route to winning the competition in 2011. He also suffered, though, when his Bayern side lost 5-0 on aggregate to Ancelotti's Madrid at the same stage three years later.

Ahead of a last-16 meeting with his City team two years ago, Guardiola name-checked Madrid as “the kings of this competition”.

After Isco put Madrid 1-0 up in the ensuing first leg, against the run of play, most of the 81,000-capacity Bernabeu crowd were happily singing “We're the kings of Europe”. But City kept their cool and turned the game around with Gabriel Jesus' header and Kevin De Bruyne's penalty. It was Madrid who lost their heads, with then captain Ramos being sent off late on. City then completed the job quite easily in the second leg at the Etihad, played over five months later following the first pandemic lockdown, when defender Raphael Varane had a shocker from which his Madrid career never recovered.

After setting up another meeting by eliminating Atletico Madrid in the previous round, Guardiola also pointed to making only the third European Cup semi-final in City's history being a huge achievement.

This was another implicit comparison to Madrid's historic record in the competition. And Mijatovic is sure that Guardiola would have preferred to face any other team – even domestic title rivals Liverpool – than have to take on Madrid and their history.

“Guardiola is a very good coach, obviously, and has all my respect,” Mijatovic says. “He is doing great work in England and is going to prepare his team very well. But he will be thinking, 'Madre mia, how can we overcome these? We can dominate them, as PSG did for 150 minutes, but in 10 minutes we have been beaten, and in such a way'. For sure, he will be a bit worried about how this tie is going to go.”

Even players who have experienced the most difficult atmospheres at stadiums around Europe can freeze at the Bernabeu.

Gerrard recalls that, in 2009, it was important for him and his Liverpool team-mates to harness the experience to lift their own performances.

“The fans are definitely on top of you,” Gerrard says. “I remember training in the stadium the night before and getting used to the environment around the place before it. That was important. It helped us. I can't speak for PSG or others, but Liverpool used to find an extra 10 per cent collectively in those types of environments, playing against a load of superstars in one of the best stadiums in the world. I don't know where it came from.”

Some around the Bernabeu, including current president Florentino Perez, have been critical of “new” teams at this level of the Champions League, especially those such as PSG and City, who lack Real Madrid's history but have been lifted by financial backing from their owners in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Calderon says that such political concerns are secondary when the Champions League enters its decisive phase.

“I don't believe Madrid are more motivated against teams like PSG and City,” Calderon says. “What happens is that our experience in these types of games, in this competition, adds an extra that teams which have not had success in this competition do not have.

“The challenge of eliminating City is huge, but it is no bigger than the challenge overcome against PSG and Chelsea, coming from behind in the final minutes. It is very possible that we will win the Champions League again this year, not just for the quality of the players, but their spirit, their competitiveness, and the confidence with which they have been playing in recent games.”

History suggests City will have to keep Madrid's “monster” asleep if they are to progress to what would be their second-ever Champions League final, and Mijatovic says this is why he favours Ancelotti's team to go through to face Liverpool or fellow La Liga side Villarreal in the final next month.

“With City's style, and Madrid's style, it will be a very interesting tie, for sure. For 180 minutes, no matter what the result is after the first leg,” Mijatovic says.

“All the opponents, regardless of their history, playing at the Bernabeu always have that fear. They want to play a good game and win or go through in the tie, without waking up that monster. If the monster is awoken, they know they will have no chance.”