Chelsea started the divorce from Real Madrid with their cursed European competition

04/10/2023 at 20:35

CEST

Chelsea defeated the whites in the 1971 Cup Winners’ Cup final. It was the first of the two that Real Madrid played. It is the only European title that is missing

Decades after that Cup Winners’ Cup, Chelsea won that title again and months later they faced Real Madrid again and they won the Super Cup in 1998

The Cup Winners’ Cup is the only European mole that has the real Madrid and his next rival in the Champions He is, in large part, guilty of the merengue divorce with his cursed competition, the one that the merengue team has never won. While the barca can boast of hosting four Cup Winners’ Cup titles in its showcases, the whites failed to win any of the four editions that it played in this defunct tournament in 1999 and that since 1960 the Cup champions of each country played. It was the second European step, even above the Cup of the Uefacurrent europa league.

The first merengue hit in this tournament occurred in 1971, when the next rival of the real Madrid in Champions he knocked down the meringues in the final in that his first participation in the competition. Accustomed to winning leagues, the whites barely had opportunities to enroll in this competition, which was more of an open door for teams that did not win the regularity tournament.

The final was played on May 19, 1971, the stadium kariaskakis of Piraeus (Athens), and housed a real MadridChelsea among the team led by a veteran Paco Gento, Amancio Amaro, Ignacio Zoco, Pirri or Ramón Grosso and trained by the legendary Miguel Muñoz. It was the sunset team that in 1966 had won the Sixth European Cup against Partizan Belgrade. In front, a Chelsea that was not a benchmark club in its country and was looking for its first European title.

Now the landscape is different. He Chelsea already has two Champions in his showcase and despite the fact that he is a regular in the highest continental competition, for the duel against Real Madrid, the whites are very favorites. According to Betfair forecasts, for the merengue team to make the pass is paid at €1.47 per euro wagered while Chelsea does so at €2.55 per euro wagered. If the Betfair forecasts had mediated in 1971, surely the odds would have been similar for the Spanish team. And yet, English won.

Lost in tiebreaker

In principle, the real Madrid he was favorite in this final, but he was the Chelsea who took the lead on the scoreboard thanks to a goal from peter oswood in the 56th minute. What the white team also already had at that time was their link to comebacks: ignacio zoco equalized the final in the last second of the 90th minute.

But then football did not have an extension, much less a penalty shootout. A playoff game was to be played two days later. And so it was, but in this forced second round the Chelsea secured a good lead before the break with goals from Peter Webb and Oswood. The whites reacted with a goal from Fleitas in the final stretch, but it was not enough and the real Madrid he lost the first of the two finals he played. In 1983 the real Madrid He also played the final against aberdeen Scottish. By then, there were extensions and it was precisely in extra time where the whites succumbed. Also, the real Madrid has participated in two more Cup Winners’ Cups: in 1975 he was eliminated by Red Star of Belgrade and in 1994 it was removed by the paris saint germain of Weah.

As a curiosity, the real Madrid has the privilege of being the only team that has seen its affiliate participate in a continental competition. and it was the collect. In 1980, Castile and real Madrid They met in the Cup final. Then the satellite teams could participate in these tournaments. As the real Madrid won that League, the subsidiary, which fell to the older ones in the BernabeuHe was invited as the Spanish representative for the 80-81 season. He fell in the round of 32 against West Ham. It happened in the disputed overtime in England.

The 1998 Super Cup

Decades later from the collect of 1971, the Chelsea He won that title again (3-2 against Italian Vicenza, in 1998) and months later he faced the real Madrid in the final of the European Super Cup in Monaco. Coincidentally, another title that the whites had not yet had the chance to win and for which they had to wait until 2002 to lift it. He Chelseaonce again, won a final against the whites thanks to a solitary goal from the former player of the SaragossaGustave Poyet in 1998.

The fans of Chelsea They want to go back to that May 22, 1971 or that 90s final where they took to the streets of this London neighborhood to celebrate their greatest conquest up to then. They slowly began to build their greatness, although it took three more decades and the contribution of Abramovich’s money to finish having it with more titles and, incidentally, to be one of the founding members of that exclusive and failed European private competition.

third in a row

He Real Madrid and the Chelsea They will meet in the round of 16 of the League of champions for the third consecutive season. The English team prevailed in the semifinals in 2020-21 and was proclaimed champion that same season, while the Spanish team did the same in the quarterfinals of 2021-22 and was also proclaimed champion that same season.

the scars of Chelsea they are deep. The devastating legacy of Graham Potter does not heal in two days. It is the time that the team spent in the hands of its new coach, Frank Lampardbefore traveling to Wolverhampton to play his game of Premier, last Saturday. Lost 1-0. A shot from outside the box Matheus LuizHe could have gone up or hit the post, but he went into the top corner.

Bad luck is mixed with bad management in a club overwhelmed by pessimism. The most senior members of the board of directors believe that the Madrid will remove them from the Champions in the quarter round that awaits them shortly. “We are like the Anzhi of Makhachkala”, they joke; “We have great players, but we lack a team”.

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