MADRID, 12 Apr. (SportsFinding) –
Real Madrid will seek this Tuesday to certify its ticket to a new semifinals of the Champions League, backed by the good result that it brought from the first leg of the quarterfinals against the English Chelsea, but without being able to forget what has happened in other similar occasions to have a night as calm as possible.
Not counting the qualifying rounds that took place last season in the top continental competition at the Alfredo Di Stéfano, the 13-time European champion will experience a situation similar to that of the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons, which they keep similarities and happy and bitter endings, all suffered.
Thus, Real Madrid was graced with the possibility of playing the second leg in the quarterfinals and in the semifinals on its way to the ‘Decimotercera’ with the warmth of its public and in both cases it came with an advantage as it will do this Tuesday against the European champion, with then, the double value of away goals still in force.
In the penultimate round of the 2017-2018 Champions League, Real Madrid was drawn to the Italian Juventus. The team trained by Zinédine Zidane left Turin with the ticket on track after winning 0-3 with Cristiano Ronaldo’s remembered Chilean, but had a night of much suffering in the second leg.
Mario Mandzukic made it 0-1 for Massimiliano Allegri’s men, who then believed in a comeback. Even more so when the Croatian scored the 0-2 before the break to make the locals nervous. A mistake by Keylor Navas caused Blaise Matuide to make it 0-3 with half an hour to go and when extra time loomed, Cristiano Ronaldo saved the night in the 98th minute with a penalty committed on Lucas Vázquez.
In the semifinals, the meringues played Bayern Munich, with the first leg at the Allianz Arena. There, they were able to come back from Joshua Kimmich’s 1-0 deficit with goals from Marcelo and Marco Asensio to reach the Bernabéu with an advantage, but again they had to suffer. Once again after two minutes, his rival took the lead (Kimmich), but this time Benzema equalized early and then did not forgive a mistake by goalkeeper Ulreich to make it 2-1. James Rodríguez equalized with half an hour to go and brought the suffering to the stands until the final whistle.
Real Madrid were crowned champions for the third consecutive year in what marked the end of the stay for Zinédine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo. Defending the Champions League without two of its emblems, the team suffered in a friendly group, but went through as first despite being beaten by CSKA at home in the last game (0-3) and played in the round of 16 on young Ajax.
At the Johan Cruyff, a 1-2 victory with goals from Benzema and Asensio and disaster at the Santiago Bernabéu on one of the worst nights in Madrid’s memory. Hakim Ziyech, currently at Chelsea and who will be able to attest to his teammates that it is possible, put the ‘ajacied’ ahead after seven minutes and after fifteen minutes David Neres gave them the provisional ticket. Real Madrid went into a kind of panic and would end up beaten (1-4), eliminated and blushing.
To these recent games, we must add the second leg of this edition’s round of 16 against PSG, where they did not start with an advantage, but where they conceded first through Kylian Mbappé before signing the tremendous comeback, or the victory in the first leg of round of 16 of 2017-2018 against the Parisian team, with the first leg at the Bernabéu and with a 3-1 victory despite starting losing.
In this sense, of the last six qualifiers in the top continental competition played at the Santiago Bernabéu, in five of them (PSG -2-, Juventus, Bayern and Ajax) he started conceding, although he was only eliminated in one (Ajax). In the other, in the first leg of the 2019-2020 round of 16 against Manchester City, he started scoring (Isco), but ended up losing 1-2 (Gabriel Jesus and De Bruyne, from a penalty).