As the UEFA Champions League concludes at Stade de France, two of the most successful teams in European Cup history, Liverpool and Real Madrid, meet in the final for the third time.
Madrid’s most recent triumph, and a third successive UEFA Champions League victory, came in Kyiv in 2018 at the expense of the English side, who had edged out their Spanish opponents in Paris in 1981 to claim their third European Cup, all in the space of five years.
• The Spanish side also got the better of Liverpool in last season’s quarter-finals and has eliminated two of Liverpool’s Premier League rivals in consecutive rounds in this season’s competition. The Reds, meanwhile, are facing a second successive tie against Spanish opposition having beaten Villarreal in the semi-finals.
• This is the first time the same clubs have met in three European Cup finals. Madrid and Reims (1956, 1959), AC Milan and Ajax (1969, 1995), Ajax and Juventus (1973, 1996), Milan and Benfica (1963, 1990), Liverpool and Milan (2005, 2007), Barcelona and Manchester United (2009, 2011), Madrid and Atlético (2014, 2016) and Madrid and Juventus (1998, 2017) have all played each other in two.
• This is the fifth UEFA Champions League final between clubs from England and Spain – the fixture’s most frequent pairing, one more than Italy vs Spain.
Final pedigree
Liverpool
• The Reds have won six of their nine previous European Cup finals:
1976/77: Liverpool 3-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach
1977/78: Liverpool 1-0 Club Brugge
1980/81: Liverpool 1-0 Real Madrid
1983/84: Liverpool 1-1 Roma (aet; 4-2 on penalties)
1984/85: Juventus 1-0 Liverpool
2004/05: Liverpool 3-3 AC Milan (aet; 3-2 on penalties)
2006/07: AC Milan 2-1 Liverpool
2017/18: Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool
2018/19: Liverpool 2-0 Tottenham
• Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson, James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, and Sadio Mané all started as Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool lost to Madrid in the 2018 final.
• Twelve months later Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Robertson, Henderson, Salah, Firmino, and Mané, plus Alisson, Joël Matip, Fabinho and substitutes Milner, Joe Gomez, and Divock Origi all featured in Liverpool’s win against Tottenham.
• Liverpool’s 2019 scorers Salah and Origi could join the list of seven players who have found the net in two UEFA Champions League finals, as could Mané after his goal against Madrid in 2018. Gareth Bale, Samuel Eto’o, Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos, Raúl González, Mario Mandžukić, and Cristiano Ronaldo, who is the only player to find the net in three, have all struck in multiple finals.
Real Madrid
• Madrid has won a record 13 European Cups, and have triumphed in their last seven finals, all in the UEFA Champions League. Overall their final record is W13 L3:
1955/56: Real Madrid 4-3 Reims
1956/57: Real Madrid 2-0 Fiorentina
1957/58: Real Madrid 3-2 AC Milan (aet)
1958/59: Real Madrid 2-0 Reims
1959/60: Real Madrid 7-3 Eintracht Frankfurt
1961/62: Benfica 5-3 Real Madrid
1963/64: Inter 3-1 Real Madrid
1965/66: Real Madrid 2-1 Partizan
1980/81: Liverpool 1-0 Real Madrid
1997/98: Real Madrid 1-0 Juventus
1999/00: Real Madrid 3-0 Valencia
2001/02: Real Madrid 2-1 Bayer Leverkusen
2013/14: Real Madrid 4-1 Atlético de Madrid (aet)
2015/16: Real Madrid 1-1 Atlético de Madrid (aet; 5-3 on penalties)
2016/17: Real Madrid 4-1 Juventus
2017/18: Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool
