From 1956 to 2022: 16 finals played by Real Madrid and 13 Champions League

The first title (with a comeback included), the memorable exhibition against Eintracht in Glasgow (7-3), the surprising Madrid ye-yé, Mitjatovic's outburst, Zidane's volley, Ramos's header... Since 1956, that of Paris in 2022 is the seventeenth final of the European Cup (in the old format and the new Champions) for Real Madrid.

This is a tour of each of them.

1. Real Madrid-Stade de Reims (4-3)

June 13, 1956. Paris, Parc des Princes

The European Cup was born in 1955 at the initiative of the French sports newspaper

, and with the support of UEFA.

In that first edition, 16 teams participated, including Real Madrid, who glimpsed the possibilities of the tournament against the reluctance of others.

They reached the final, against Stade de Reims, played on a Wednesday at the Parc des Princes, when PSG had not yet been founded.

That day, Madrid completed its first major European comeback: they started losing 0-2, after goals from Leblond and Templin.

Di Stéfano and Rial equalized immediately, but the French went ahead again (2-3), and then goals from Marquitos and again Rial gave the Whites the first Orejona in history.

"We have simply fulfilled our duty," said Santiago Bernabéu.

2. Real Madrid-Fiorentina (2-0)

May 30, 1957. Madrid, Santiago Bernabéu

After the success of the first edition of the new tournament, the number of participating teams was increased, up to 22 teams, including Athletic Bilbao, which reached the quarterfinals.

After having won the title, the final was scheduled at the Santiago Bernabéu, which that Thursday overflowed with 124,000 spectators.

However, the initial dominance fell to the Italians, and Real Madrid did not start to show their heads until the second half.

Di Stéfano, Kopa and Rial went on the attack, but were met with resistance from Fiorentina and their highly inspired goalkeeper Sarti.

Until in the 70th minute Mateos was knocked down in the area and Di Stéfano hit the penalty spot.

Gento sealed the victory six minutes later.

After his second successive European Cup, Di Stéfano won the 1957 Ballon d'Or. Kopa was third.

3. Real Madrid-Milan (3-2)

May 28, 1958. Brussels, Heysel

The competition did not stop growing, and in its third edition 25 teams already participated, including Sevilla, who reached the quarterfinals, when they were eliminated by Real Madrid.

After winning the first two editions of the competition, the Whites were challenged like never before by Grillo, Shiaffino and Liedhol's Milan, who went ahead in the 59th minute and reached the 79th minute ahead on the scoreboard (1-2).

Then Rial equalized and sent the match into extra time, in which Gento scored the winner and gave Madrid its third European Cup.

From the stadium where it was built, the Atomium could be seen, the emblematic 102-meter-high metal structure that had been inaugurated that year, on the occasion of the Expo held in the Belgian capital.

4. Real Madrid-Stade de Reims (2-0)

June 3, 1959. Stuttgart, Neckarstadion

Real Madrid exhibited extraordinary control over a tournament that continued to grow, and that in its fourth edition already brought together 28 teams.

On that occasion, Atlético de Madrid reached the semi-finals, where the Whites left them on the road to play their fourth consecutive final.

The final crossing distilled a certain air of revenge.

In Germany the first two finalists were summoned again, but the Spanish team, which had just incorporated Puskas, overweight but lethal, did not allow another Orejona to escape.

Mateos made it 1-0 after less than two minutes of play.

Di Stéfano, once again the tournament's top scorer, scored in his fourth consecutive final (2-0) and that year he won his second Ballon d'Or.

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Liverpool - Real Madrid, live: the 2022 Champions League final, live

5. Real Madrid-Eintracht Frankfurt (7-3)

May 18, 1960. Glasgow, Hampden Park

The final in which Real Madrid won its fifth consecutive European Cup is perhaps the most memorable in history.

Starting with the record number of spectators that gathered that Wednesday, 127,261 spectators, according to the official record.

The beginning of the game did not announce the outcome;

The German team went ahead in the 18th minute with a goal from Kress, but that only unleashed Madrid's fury.

The shooting began immediately, from Di Stéfano's equalizer, who ended up scoring three times.

But that year he was not going to be the top scorer in the competition: he was beaten by Puskas, who scored four in the final.

The following day, the London newspaper The Times wrote: “Real Madrid is wandering around Europe like the Vikings used to do, destroying everything in its path”.

For years, the BBC scheduled the retransmission of the match every Christmas.

Real Madrid player Francisco Gento lifts the European Cup in May 1966. Cordon Press

6. Benfica-Real Madrid (5-3)

May 2, 1962. Amsterdam, Olympic Stadium

Real Madrid returned to the final after having missed that appointment for the first time in the history of the competition the previous year.

It was when Barcelona eliminated them in the first round, which would end up reaching the final against Benfica, who won in Bern (3-2).

So in 1962, the Portuguese team was preparing to try to defend the title and try to inaugurate a dynasty like the one exhibited by Madrid during the first five years of the tournament.

Precisely, the absolute king of the competition stood in his way, who in Amsterdam withstood the pulse of the previous champions thanks to a triplet from Puskas until the 50th minute. But beyond that point Eusebio appeared, who scored the last two goals and sent coach Bela Guttman's second Orejona to Lisbon.

The only two in the club.

7. Inter-Real Madrid (3-1)

May 27, 1964. Vienna, Praterstadion

The European Cup has marked the identity of Real Madrid, and also the fate of some of its greatest legends.

After the initial five trophies, and after losing a final against Benfica for the first time, the Whites reached the last match again two years later.

Opposite were Inter Milan led by Helenio Herrera, Luis Suárez and Sandro Mazzola, who led the Italian team to their first Orejona with two goals.

On the opposite side, the final in Vienna was Alfredo di Stéfano's last game with Real Madrid.

The defeat, his disputes with the coach, Miguel Muñoz, and the discrepancies with the president, Santiago Bernabéu, for the renewal of his contract, when he was about to turn 38.

There, in the second final of the lost European Cup, Di Stéfano's Madrid finished.

Real Madrid player Pedja Mijatovic scores the only goal of the game against Juventus.Getty Images

8. Real Madrid-Partizan Belgrade (2-1)

May 11, 1966. Brussels, Heysel

Now without Di Stéfano or Puskas, the team had come to be known as the Madrid of the yeyés, with a line-up full of Spanish footballers, such as Sanchis, Pirri, Zoco, Serena, Amancio, Velázquez and Gento.

With that squad, two years after losing in Vienna and seeing Di Stéfano leave, Real Madrid eliminated the champion of the last two years, Inter, in the semifinals and went on to win the final against Partizán Belgrade, ten years later of the first edition of the tournament.

The game started against the current for Miguel Muñoz's men, who saw Vasovic put Partizán ahead in the 55th minute. But Amancio equalized in the 70th minute after an extraordinary succession of dribbles and Serena closed the match that meant Gento's sixth European Cup, unique case in history.

9. Liverpool-Real Madrid (1-0)

May 27, 1981. Paris, Parc des Princes

From the triumphant Madrid of

to the Madrid of

[García Cortés, García Navajas, García Hernández, Pérez García] who were defeated in the French capital by Liverpool.

Fifteen years had passed since the Whites' last final in the old European Cup, but it wasn't there.

A goal by Alan Kennedy with ten minutes to go ended a match without great chances.

The best of the Spaniards was Camacho.

He was not a Madrid of breaks and tears, far from it.

Despite being overtaken by the

, the president, Luis de Carlos, kept his promise and paid a premium to the squad.

41 years later, the 2022 poster brought back the Paris, Liverpool and Real Madrid triangle.

10. Juventus-Real Madrid (0-1)

May 20, 1998. Amsterdam, Amsterdam Arena

Very probably, the most desired and celebrated title in the history of Real Madrid.

It took him seventeen years to appear in a final and 32 to raise his holy grail again.

It had never taken so long.

After the great renovation of the previous year carried out by Fabio Capello (Illner, Panucci, Roberto Carlos, Seedorf, Mitjatovic and Suker), the team was inherited by Jupp Heynckes and, after a disastrous League (fourth), stood in Amsterdam against a Juventus de Zidane and Del Piero who arrived as a great favorite despite losing the title the previous year against Dortmund.

Mitjatovic's only goal in the entire tournament resolved a claustrophobic duel that inaugurated Madrid's modern age in its fetish garden.

11. Real Madrid-Valencia (3-0)

May 24, 2000. Paris, Stade de France

Resolved the agony of the long wait, Madrid took a run at the beginning of the century.

Only two years had passed since the seventh, but the changes in the squad were notable, with the beardless Casillas in charge of the goal and Vicente Del Bosque on the bench, who had arrived almost half a year earlier as interim.

As in this 2022, the appointment was in Saint Denis, where he landed again behind his rival, Valencia, who had killed Barcelona in the semifinals.

Another disastrous League (fifth) made amends with a final governed with authority with goals from Morientes, McManaman and Raúl's coast-to-coast career.

12. Bayer Leverkusen-Real Madrid (1-2)

May 15, 2002. Glasgow, Hampden Park

The centenary year of the club threatened total ruin after falling at home in the Cup final against Deportivo.

But from the sonorous Centenariazo and another League that went to limbo, it was passed to Zidane's Ninth, lifted with a volley from the Frenchman who went directly to the trading cards of the tournament's history.

Casillas was in charge of closing that night in Glasgow, a substitute for a few months due to Del Bosque's decision and who had to appear urgently at Hampden Park due to César's injury to leave three miracle stops

Iker in the long discount.

Third Champions in five years.

Madridismo believed then that the entire mountain was oregano.

The following 12 years proved otherwise.

Iker Casillas lifts Real Madrid's tenth European Cup, in 2014.Uly Martín

13. Real Madrid-Atletico Madrid (4-1)

May 24, 2014. Lisbon, Da Luz

The constant obsession of Real Madrid for the

had already translated into emergencies after more than a decade without any conquest and several frustrating semifinals.

He arrived at the duel in Lisbon on the back of his BBC (Bale, Benzema and Cristiano), winning 0-4 against Guardiola's Bayern, and in the Portuguese capital he found another moment for his European legend: Sergio Ramos' 93rd minute to embitter the Atletico de Simeone.

Casillas had bungled it in the first half and the white team didn't find a way out until discount time, better and with more chances but on the verge of bankruptcy.

In extra time, Bale and Di María finished ripping the rojiblancos.

Carlo Ancelotti was on the bench with Zidane as second.

14. Real Madrid-Atletico de Madrid (1-1, 5-3 on penalties)

May 28, 2016. Milan, San Siro

The curse of Atlético with the European Cup (three runners-up) found two years later in Milan another cruel script for Simeone's team, due to the outcome and the rival.

Ramos went ahead at the start in a controversial action, Griezmann missed a penalty when he returned from the break and Carrasco equalized near the end.

But, when half of Madrid was cramped, the rojiblancos did not avoid their inertia to withdraw and ended up punished in the penalty shootout.

Rookie Lucas Vázquez left at 11 meters playing with the ball, Bale shot lamely and Juanfran sent it to the post.

Cristiano did not forgive in the final fifth.

Another season with a discreet start that led to a change of bench (Zidane for Rafa Benítez) ended with another

.

ZZ's first on the bench, a role that no one would have imagined in him.

15. Juventus-Real Madrid (1-4)

June 3, 2017. Cardiff, Millennium

No team had repeated title under the new format of the Champions League, until this year Madrid.

Along the way, he once again embittered Atlético, this time in the semi-finals, the victim of an impossible dribble by Benzema along the baseline of the Calderón, escaping from three top guards (Savic, Giménez and Godín).

That action put the Whites in Cardiff against Juventus, who they packed with their best football in a modern final, especially after the break.

Ronaldo, who arrived unleashed, closed the knockout phase with a record 10 goals.

It was the course of Zidane's intensive rotation plan, Madrid A and B. With both they won the League.

Europe was the stuff of headlines.

Sergio Ramos and Marcelo celebrate the last title to date in Cibeles.Getty

16. Real Madrid-Liverpool (3-1)

May 26, 2018. kyiv, Olympic Stadium

Before jumping onto the pitch in kyiv, Zidane played a video for the players about the great dynasties of the sport.

That was the challenge for the squad: win the third Champions League in a row and become a legend.

The night was a whirlwind of events: Liverpool goalkeeper Karius got involved like few others at such a critical moment and opened the doors for Benzema to make it 1-0;

the displaced Bale came out with half an hour to go and resolved the final with a bicycle kick (CR had already scored a postcard against Juventus);

and Karius definitely broke before a long shot from the Welshman.

However, the white explosion with his new conquest went almost instantly to implosion: Ronaldo dropped his departure from the club, Bale threatened with the same if he did not have more prominence and, two days later, Zidane grabbed the door and He she left.

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