Bayern Munich vs AC Milan Tickets

The term legendary is perhaps bandied about a bit too freely in modern-day football, but there’s no arguing the iconic nature of both teams that are about to do battle in Bavaria.

Bayern Munich are undisputed giants in Germany; no club comes close to what Die Roten have achieved, and on the continent, they are consistently high performers in UEFA’s top-tier tournament.

AC Milan are similarly revered in Italy, and no club from the country has won the competition as often as the Rossoneri and their success in the competition straddles both the European Cup and the UEFA Champions League era.

Both teams have massive followings, which will add to the flavour of this encounter, which is sure to be a very close contest.

Bayern Munich blew onto the scene in the competition by winning three titles in a row. In their first in 1973/74, they beat Atletico Madrid 4-0 in a replay, two days after scrambling a 1-1 draw in the last minute of extra-time.

The following season it was Leeds United who were dispatched, the German side winning 2-0 in the 1974/75 European Cup Final. The following season they completed their hat-trick with perhaps their hardest-fought victory, a 1-0 win over a very strong Saint-Etienne team.

It would take another 25 years before the club would win the competition again, and in the intervening period, they tasted defeat in three finals, in 1982, to Aston Villa, 1987 to FC Porto, and 1999, to Manchester United, arguably three games they should really have won on the basis of not only their performances but also their standing going into the games.

2001 saw Bayern Munich end their quarter-of-century wait, beating Valencia on penalties before once again losing two finals, in 2010 to Inter Milan and 2012 against Chelsea, a final that took place at their own Allianz Arena home.

In 2013 they won an all-German final at Wembley Stadium when they defeated Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund thanks to a late goal from crafty Dutch wing wizard Arjen Robben.

In 2020 they made it six titles by beating Paris Saint-Germain in an empty Estadio da Luz stadium in Lisbon due to coronavirus restrictions, with former PSG man Kingsley Coman scoring the only goal of a subdued clash.

AC Milan reached their first European Cup Final in 1958 but were beaten by a great Real Madrid side 3-2 in Brussels, despite twice being ahead. Five years later, they tasted victory in the competition for the first time, defeating Benfica at Wembley Stadium.

1969 brought the club’s second title, this time after a convincing 4-1 win over Ajax in Madrid.

It took another twenty years to reach the same heights, but when they did, they were virtually unstoppable. Back-to-back wins in 1989 and 1990, against Steaua Bucharest and Benfica, were down to incredibly defensive displays, with centre-back Franco Baresi playing a huge part along with left-back Paolo Maldini.

This, married with an attack that included Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten, made for an awesome unit. In 1993 they lost the final to Olympique Marseille, which was something of a surprise before they wrestled back the crown by absolutely thumping FC Barcelona 4-0 in Athens in 1994. In their third final in succession, they lost to a youthful Ajax side and then very much went off the boil.

2003 saw the club return to the top, beating Juventus after a penalty shoot-out, which followed a drab goalless draw. Then in 2005, AC Milan had a final meltdown to rivals Bayern Munich’s of 1999.

Carlo Ancelotti, now in charge of the club he had played in with such success, saw his AC Milan side take a 3-0 half-time lead against Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool in Istanbul. There then followed a comeback for the ages.

Liverpool scored three times in the first 16 minutes of the second half, but even then, AC Milan should have won the game and would have done, but for great saves from Polish keeper Jerzy Dudek, who then made his mark on the game during the penalty shoot-out, which they invariably lost.

Fortunately, revenge came quickly, with the same two teams playing in the final in 2007, this time AC Milan won in a far more straightforward manner. From 2007 to 2023, the club is yet to get to the UEFA Champions League Final, which is a serious failure for a team of their size and stature.

Bayern Munich vs AC Milan Head-to-Head

These two teams have met on a number of occasions in competitive European action, the first occasion coming in the now-defunct UEFA European Cup Winners’ Cup Semi-Finals, with AC Milan winning 2-0 on aggregate.

They next met in the 1989/90 European Cup Semi-Finals with a Marco van Basten penalty giving AC Milan a 1-0 home victory before Bayern Munich won the second leg 2-1, meaning that the Italian side qualified for the final due to the away goals rule.

They met in the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 2002/03 in the group phase, and AC Milan won both encounters 2-1, with Pippo Inzaghi scoring three of the four goals across the two games.

In 2005/06, their clash was in the Round of 16, with the first leg ending 1-1 in Germany before AC Milan moved into second gear in the return leg, winning 4-1 with Inzaghi again on the scoresheet, netting twice.

In 2006/07, AC Milan once again emerged victorious, this time winning their encounter 4-2 on aggregate in the Quarter-Finals, and yes, you guessed it, Inzaghi was once again among the goals.

Bayern Munich vs AC Milan Connections

Amongst the many stars to ply their trade with both Bayern Munich and AC Milan are defender Massimo Oddo, Danish playmaker Brian Laudrup, Dutch midfield powerhouse Mark van Bommel, Christian Ziege, and Mario Mandzukic.

Additionally, Carlo Ancelotti managed both teams. At AC Milan, he won two UEFA Champions League titles and a Serie A crown, and in his one full season in Germany, he won the Bundesliga.

Ancelotti also spent five seasons as a player at the San Siro, making 160 appearances and winning the European Cup twice. Indeed he is one of an elite group of individuals who have won the European Cup or UEFA Champions League both as a player and a manager, a feat also achieved by the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Pep Guardiola, Johan Cruyff, and Frank Rijkaard.