Why REAL MADRID are the ABSOLUTE MONSTERS of the Champions League!
Real Madrid are on their way to their 15th Champions League victory, and it's hard to imagine anything that could stop them.
In this video, we'll tell you why Real are the biggest monsters in football, recall the Blancos' most epic comebacks in the Champions League, and why the legendary Antonio Pintus is the shadow hero and the reason for the team's success. Let's go!
Comeback Kings
Big wins can never be easy. However, since Real have accustomed their fans to those, it may seem like they are given to the Blancos for nothing. In fact, to win, a team not only has to be able to play great football but also to endure and suffer.
Throughout their history, Real Madrid have had a huge number of comebacks to recall, but their number in the Champions League specifically in the last 10 years is impressive and makes you admire the strength of this club.
Let's recap the most epic ones!
We should start with a match that will be remembered by Real fans as one of the best moments in the club's history. This is the legendary comeback in the Champions League final against Atletico in 2014.
Usually, when a team ties the score after being down 1-0, it is not called a comeback, but given the conditions, it is undoubtedly a real comeback. The Champions League final, stoppage time, Atletico minutes away from a historic victory, a corner, Luka Modric's cross, Sergio Ramos' jump, scenes.
It is worth reminding you that Real eventually won that match 4-1, scoring 3 goals in extra time against a demotivated opponent. However, it was Ramos' goal that became the turning point that brought La Decima to the club.
92:48 - the exact minute and second when Sergio scored this goal became a legend, imprinted not only in the memory but also on the bodies of many fans.
Like this video if you consider that phenomenal episode to be one of the most memorable in Blancos' history!
Of course, we must also mention Real Madrid's comeback against Bayern, which allowed Madrid to reach the final of this year's Champions League. The Blancos are losing 2-3 on aggregate, and the team couldn't get past the opponents' defense. But then the hero everyone was waiting for appeared. In the 81st minute, Joselu was subbed on. In the 88th minute, he equalized. And in the 90+1th minute, he brought the team victory and a place in the final.
This is not only the story of the Blancos' great victory, but also Joselu's personal story. Throughout his career, the striker has been looking for a place in big football: his fate has taken him to different clubs and countries. In particular, he played for Hoffenheim, Stoke City, Alaves, Hannover, Deportivo.
And now, at the age of 34, he got a chance in one of the biggest world football giants. At the start of the season, who would have believed that the 34-year-old striker on loan from Espanyol would make a brace against Bayern in the Champions League semifinals and lead Real to the final? It's stories like this that make us love football!
The next comeback we'll mention happened at one of the most difficult stadiums to visit in the world. We are talking about the match against Liverpool and the game at Anfield in the 2022/23 season.
As early as the 15th minute of the match, the Blancos were losing 2-0 after goals by Nunez and Salah. A bad start, mistakes, pressure from the Anfield stands - everything was going terribly for Real.
But if anyone could bounce back in that situation, it was Real Madrid. The team pulled together and simply destroyed the opponent, scoring 5 goals by the end of the match and turning the second leg into a formality. Vinicius' brace, Benzema's brace, and Militao's goal did the trick. Wow!
Now let's go back another year to the clash between Real and PSG in the round of the last 16. The Blancos lost the first leg 1-0, and in the first half at the Santiago Bernabeu, Kylian Mbappe doubled PSG's lead.
Real came out for the second half with an extremely difficult task to score at least 2 goals to equalize. But who wants to equalize when you can just win?
This time, the phenomenal Karim Benzema stepped up and scored a hat-trick between the 60th and 80th minutes of the game. With this wonderful comeback, Madrid's path to victory in the playoffs began.
The path on which Real made perhaps their most epic comeback in recent history. We refer to the clash with Manchester City in the semifinals of the tournament.
Quick recap. In the first game at the Etihad, Real suffered all the time and had to catch up. In the end, City won with a score of 4-3, but Citizens' advantage in the game was very significant and Real's chances of overall success were not very good.