Real Madrid vs Borussia Monchengladbach: Sparks flew in 1976

The 2020/21 Champions League group phase draw paired Real Madrid with Borussia Monchengladbach, a historic rivalry which began way back in 1976.

It was the quarter-final stage of the European Cup of the 1975/76 season when the tie between the two clubs took the attention of the entire continent, even if there wasn't a way for most of them to watch it in those days.

The return leg was played at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, which was full to capacity, with German teams having dominated the European scene for that period of time.

Bayern Munich were the holders of the European Cup, the German national team had won both the most recent European Championship and World Cup, whilst Borussia Monchengladbach had a cast of phenomenal players who were capable of hurting Los Blancos.

With the first leg having ended in a 2-2 draw, Real Madrid took in what was then a record gate-receipt of 29 million pesetas.

The energy surrounding the return leg was palpable across the Spanish capital, with the newly crowned King Juan Carlos watching his first Real Madrid fixture as king.

Jupp Heynckes opened the scoring with a header, yet Amancio Santillana's own headed goal drew the two teams level at 1-1.

The atmosphere helped the Spanish side, despite Udo Lattek's suggestion that his team played better away from home, however the visitors would have two goals disallowed in the latter stages of the match.

They were furious and surrounded the official on both occasions, at first on the pitch and then in the tunnel, the general consensus from the German dressing room was that they had been robbed.

"We haven't lost against Real Madrid, but rather the referee," declared the German club's vice president.