Match Details
Location: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan
Date: 05/28/2016
Time: 20:45 CET / 02:45 PM EST
Where to Watch
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About the Champions League
The UEFA Champions League is an annual continental club football competition organized by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs. It is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world and the most prestigious club competition in European football, played by the national league champion (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) of each UEFA national association. The final of the 2012–13 tournament was the most watched UEFA Champions League final to date, as well as the most watched annual sporting event worldwide in 2013, drawing 360 million television viewers.
Introduced in 1992, the competition replaced the European Champion Clubs' Cup, or simply European Cup, which had run since 1955, adding a group stage to the competition and allowing multiple entrants from certain countries. The pre-1992 competition was initially a straight knockout tournament open only to the champion club of each country. During the 1990s, the format was expanded, incorporating a round-robin group stage to include clubs that finished runner-up of some nations' top level league. While most of Europe's national leagues can still only enter their national league champion, Europe's strongest national leagues now provide up to four teams for the competition, and will provide up to five teams from the 2015–16 season onwards. Clubs that finish next-in-line in each nation's top level league, having not qualified for the UEFA Champions League competition, may be eligible for the next level UEFA Europa League competition.
In its present format, the UEFA Champions League begins in mid-July with three knockout qualifying rounds and a play-off round. The 10 surviving teams enter the group stage, joining 22 other teams qualified in advance. The 32 teams are drawn into eight groups of four teams and play each other in a double round-robin system. The eight group winners and eight runners-up proceed to the knockout phase that culminates with the final match in May. The winner of the UEFA Champions League qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.
The Teams
Club Atlético de Madrid, commonly known as Atlético Madrid, or simply as Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, that plays in La Liga.
In terms of UEFA competition titles won, Atlético Madrid is Spain's 3rd most successful club behind Real Madrid and Barcelona. In terms of the number of titles, Atlético Madrid is the fourth most successful club in Spanish football, behind Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao. Atlético have won La Liga on ten occasions, including a league and cup double in 1996; the Copa del Rey on ten occasions; two Supercopas de España and one Copa Eva Duarte; in Europe, they won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1962, were runners-up in 1963 and 1986, were European Cup runners-up in 1974 and 2014, won the Europa League in 2010 and in 2012, won the UEFA Super Cup in 2010 and 2012, as well as the 1974 Intercontinental Cup.
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, commonly known as Real Madrid, or simply as Real, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the team has traditionally worn a white home kit since inception. The word Real is Spanish for Royal and was bestowed to the club by King Alfonso XIII in 1920 together with the royal crown in the emblem. The team has played its home matches in the 85,454-capacity Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in downtown Madrid since 1947. Unlike most European sporting entities, Real Madrid's members (socios) have owned and operated the club throughout its history.
The club is the most valuable sports team in the world, worth €2.5 billion ($3.4 billion) and the world's highest-earning football club for 2013–14, with an annual revenue of €549.5 million. The club is one of the most widely supported teams in the world. Real Madrid is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never been relegated from the top division, along with Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona. The club holds many long-standing rivalries, most notably El Clásico with Barcelona and the El Derbi madrileño with Atlético Madrid.
Real Madrid established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football during the 1950s. The club won five consecutive European Cups, and reached the final seven times. This success was replicated in the league, where the club won five times in the space of seven years. This team, which consisted of players such as Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás, Gento, Raymond Kopa, and Santamaría, is considered by some in the sport to be the greatest team of all time.
In domestic football, the club has won a record 32 La Liga titles, 19 Copa del Rey, 9 Supercopa de España, 1 Copa Eva Duarte, and 1 Copa de la Liga. In international football, the club has won a record 10 European Cup/UEFA Champions League titles and a joint record 3 Intercontinental Cups, as well as 2 UEFA Cups, 2 UEFA Super Cups and a FIFA Club World Cup.
Real Madrid was recognized as the FIFA Club of the 20th Century on 23 December 2000, and named Best European Club of the 20th Century by the IFFHS on 11 May 2010. The club received the FIFA Centennial Order of Merit in 2004. The club is ranked first in the latest IFFHS Club World Ranking, setting a new ranking-points record. The club also leads the current UEFA club rankings.
Venue
The Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has an all-seater capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in Europe, and the largest in Italy.
On 3 March 1980, the stadium was named in honour of Giuseppe Meazza, the two-time World Cup winner (1934, 1938) who played for Inter Milan and briefly for Milan in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.
The San Siro is a UEFA category four stadium. It hosted six games at the 1990 FIFA World Cup and three European Cup finals, in 1965, 1970 and 2001, and will host the 2016 UEFA Champions League Final.
Road to the Final
This final will be the sixth tournament final to feature two teams from the same association, the third all-Spanish final, and the second between teams from the same city, fielding exactly the two teams that faced each other in the 2014 final, making it the seventh repeated final pairing. The all-Madrid final also guaranteed Madrid becoming the most successful city in the European Cup with 11 wins and 17 final appearances, and also in all UEFA club competitions with 16 wins, overtaking Milan with 10 wins and 16 final appearances in the European Cup and 15 wins in all UEFA club competitions.
Real Madrid reached a record 14th final after a 1–0 aggregate win against Manchester City, with a chance to win a record 11th title. Previously they won finals in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2014, and lost in 1962, 1964, and 1981. This was also their 18th final in all UEFA club competitions, having also played in two Cup Winners' Cup finals (losing in 1971 and 1983) and two UEFA Cup finals (winning in 1985 and 1986). Their manager, Zinedine Zidane, who scored the winning goal for Real Madrid in the 2002 final, has the chance to become the seventh man to win the Champions League as both player and manager, joining Miguel Muñoz, Giovanni Trapattoni, Johan Cruyff, Carlo Ancelotti, Frank Rijkaard, and Pep Guardiola.
Atlético Madrid reached their third European Cup final after defeating Bayern Munich on away goals (2–2 on aggregate). Their previous two European Cup finals in 1974 and 2014 both ended in defeats, to their semi-final and final opponents Bayern Munich and Real Madrid respectively. Atlético Madrid have also played in three Cup Winners' Cup finals (winning in 1962, and losing in 1963 and 1986) and two Europa League finals (winning in 2010 and 2012), with their most recent Europa League triumph in 2012 led by current coach Diego Simeone. He has the chance to join fellow Argentinians Luis Carniglia and Helenio Herrera as the only non-European coaches to win the European Cup/Champions League. If they win the Champions League, they will join Juventus, Ajax, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea as clubs to have won the three main European club competitions.
Apart from the 2014 final, won by Real Madrid 4–1 after extra time, the only previous Madrid Derby matches in European competitions were in the 1958–59 European Cup semi-finals, where Real Madrid won 2–1 in a replay, after a 2–2 aggregate draw, and in the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, where Real Madrid won 1–0 on aggregate.
