Real Madrid and its hierarchy in the Champions League

When it comes to Real Madrid and the Champions League, there is no one who doubts the hierarchy of the Spanish team in the European championship. It doesn’t matter if things go wrong, but for Madrid the Champions League is always synonymous with joy, struggle and grit. They prove it every season, despite the doubts and even criticism that may surround the white club, the players show that the magic of the Champions League is much greater.

yesterday before the Shakhtar Donetsk was no exception. A match valid for the fourth day of the group stage that in the previous one did not seem to be complicated put Ancelotti’s men on the ropes with a surprising goal that put the locals ahead on the scoreboard. When everything seemed finished, he appeared Rudiger to score a header in the final minutes and tie the match, giving Real Madrid qualification for the round of 16.

Once again a goal in stoppage time saves Madrid. A repeated and agonizing story that demonstrates the great hierarchy of the white team in the Champions League. In the absence of two dates for this first stage, those led by Ancelotti they are the second mathematically classified team along with Guardiola’s Manchester City. As if it wasn’t enough they have become the only team in the history of the Champions League to make it through every round of the group stage in which they have participated.

This goal in added time reminds us of the last version of Real Madrid in the previous season where the comebacks and goals in the last minutes excited more than one. A Champions League not so regular for the Spaniards but in the end it was effective and led them to win their 14th Cup in the great return of Ancelotti as coach and in the first season without Cristiano Ronaldo.

From the round of 16, Madrid became the owner of the comebacks. His first victim was the PSG of Mbappé, Neymar and Messi in the second leg at the Santiago Bernabéu. With a 2-0 aggregate against, the situation was not the best, but in the 60th minute and Benzema would change history. Three goals from the ‘9’ would put the white team in the next round and leave the Parisians who stayed close to the goal with no taste.

The quarter-finals would not be easy for Ancelotti’s team against the current champion and defending champion: Chelsea. In the first leg, once again Benzema’s forcefulness was present and with a hat-trick he would put the score 3-1 in favor of his team. When the second leg seemed to be a mere formality, the ‘blues’ went out for everything and after 75 minutes they were already winning 3-0. With that result their spot in the semi-finals seemed assured. They did not count on the appearance of Rodrygo and Benzema again, to sentence the match in a 5-4 aggregate, classifying the Whites to the next phase.

Already among the four best teams in Europe, Real Madrid would have to face Guardiola’s Manchester City, an old acquaintance of the house who had made them suffer so much years ago. The first game in England was like a movie and ended 4-3 for the locals, in a match that could have been worse for the Spanish. Already in Madrid, the whites came out cautious in a game that was much more measured than the last. A goal with almost 15 minutes remaining in the series put the balance in favor of City, but again Rodrygo appeared in the 90s to give his team hope. A minute later he scored another goal and in minute 95, a Benzema dressed as a hero finished the game and gave them a pass to the grand final.

With epic comebacks Real Madrid opened a pass to the long-awaited final where they would face Liverpool. Unlike the rest of the tournament, Ancelotti’s team did not need his magic in the Champions League to win the match. That final was perhaps the least exciting match of the season, but it gave the club its European Cup 14. With this meeting, that Madrid of the comebacks seems to resurface and be a harbinger of what we could see the rest of the year.