Manchester United vs Real Madrid Tickets

This is going to be one hell of a tasty UEFA Champions League clash. Manchester United and Real Madrid are arguably two of the biggest teams to have ever played the game, and their combined total of 17 top-tier European titles is a testament to that fact.

Manchester United have three of those 17 titles to their name, and it’s worth noting that thirty years separated their first and second triumphs.

In 1968, Sir Matt Busby’s star-studded side defeated Benfica 4-1 at Wembley Stadium, a game that was far closer than that score-line suggests. The two teams were level at 1-1 when the European Cup Final went to extra time, at which point the likes of Sir Bobby Charlton, Brian Kidd, and the great George Best upped their game to romp home.

Manchester United then went over 25 years without a domestic title, and therefore, opportunities to lift another top European title were nullified. Then Sir Alex Ferguson put his stamp on the club, ending that run without an English Championship and then picking up that second title.

The manner in which they did so in Barcelona is, of course, well documented. Manchester United had eased through their group stage, where Bayern Munich were among those they faced at that stage, before defeating first Inter Milan and then Juventus to book their final berth.

Interestingly, both teams had actually had to win qualifiers just to take part in the tournament, as neither team were the reigning domestic title holders in their respective leagues, and it was Ottmar Hitzfeld’s side who took the lead when Mario Basler scored after just six minutes.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side were consistently knocking on the door trying to level matters, and the Scot threw on Teddy Sheringham on 67 minutes and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after 81 minutes.

The fourth official had just put up the board to show there would be three minutes of injury time played, and from David Beckham’s corner, with keeper Peter Schmeichel having been thrown into the mix, and a Ryan Giggs effort was redirected into the back of the net by Sheringham to send the watching United fans into mass hysteria.

Then, less than a minute after the equalizer, Beckham swung in another corner and this time Sheringham met the cross with a header that landed at Solskjaer’s feet, with the Norwegian forcing the ball home to clinch the game in unbelievably dramatic circumstances.

2008 was the club’s third and, to date, final top European title, with Manchester United defeating Chelsea on penalties in Moscow.

Real Madrid, on the other hand, have secured a massive number of European Cup/UEFA Champions League successes, with their 14 being by far the highest in the history of the tournament.

Those wins have predominantly come in two distinct periods of extended success.

The first came at the birth of the European Cup as an entity, with the likes of Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas leading the powerhouse side to glory in each of the first five editions of the tournament.

They won their sixth title in 1966, beating Partizan Belgrade in Brussels, and then had to wait, much like United, over thirty years to secure another success. That came in Amsterdam after a goal from Predrag Mijatovic gave them a 1-0 win over Juventus.

Wins in 2000 and 2002 followed before another period of relative failure followed, albeit this one being just over a decade.

Then, in another extended run of incredible success, the Santiago Bernabeu side won four titles in five years and picked up another in 2022.

A key figure during the first two decades of the century came in the form of French legend Zinedine Zidane, who scored the famous winner in the 2002 final, a wonder volley against Bayer Leverkusen in Glasgow, and then went on to manage the team to an incredible three UEFA Champions League titles in a row.

Of course, a certain player by the name of Cristiano Ronaldo was already key to those later successes, with the Portuguese goal machine earning himself four winners’ medals at Real Madrid to go with the one he won at Manchester United in 2008.

Manchester United vs Real Madrid Head-to-Head

These two teams have met many times in competitive European action, with the first meeting coming in 1956/57, with Real Madrid overcoming Manchester United 5-3 on aggregate in the European Cup Semi-Finals.

Manchester United gained revenge for that loss by beating their illustrious Spanish opponents in the Semi-Finals of the 1967/68 edition before defeating Benfica to win their first European Cup crown.

Their first clash of the UEFA Champions League era came in 1999/2000 in the Quarter-Finals when Ferguson’s side secured a valuable 0-0 draw in the Spanish capital but then found themselves three down after just 52 minutes at home, and though they scored two goals in the second half, the damage had already been done, and they were knocked out.

In 2002/03, they met in the same round and played out perhaps their most iconic tie. Luis Figo put Real Madrid ahead at home before a Raul brace put the La Liga side in complete control, though Ruud van Nistelrooy cut the deficit to complete a 3-1 away defeat.

The second leg saw Brazilian Ronaldo put on a masterclass that was so emphatic that it earned a standing ovation from the home fans. He scored a hat-trick before the hour mark and was subbed with the score at 2-2 and Real Madrid seemingly in control.

Then David Beckham entered the fray as a replacement for Juan Sebastian Veron and duly scored twice to set up a grandstand finish, but Manchester United’s 4-3 win on the night was not enough to progress.

A decade later, they played each other in the Round of 16, and Danny Welbeck’s strike earned them a useful 1-1 draw at Real Madrid, and a Sergio Ramos goal just after half-time had put Ferguson’s side in a dominant position.

Then Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir controversially sent off Portuguese winger Nani, reducing the home side to ten men, and that led to a sustained period of pressure, during which both Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo scored to steer the game in Real Madrid’s favour.

The two teams also met in the 2017 UEFA Super Cup, with Casemiro and Isco scoring for Real Madrid in a 2-1 win. Romelu Lukaku responded for United, but Jose Mourinho’s side fell to a 2-1 defeat in Skopje.

Manchester United vs Real Madrid Connections

These two teams have a history of connections, with a large number of stars having played for both teams, including the late great Laurie Cunningham, David Beckham, Michael Owen, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Gabriel Heinze, Angel Di Maria, Javier Hernandez, Raphael Varane and Casemiro.

However, perhaps the most accomplished player to be fielded by both sides is legendary forward Cristiano Ronaldo. Sir Alex Ferguson made the very wise decision to sign the Portuguese international in August 2003, and he went on to make 292 appearances for the club, scoring 118 goals before making a massive money move to Real Madrid.

His trophy haul at Manchester United was impressive and included three Premier League triumphs and a UEFA Champions League winners medal, but that tally was dwarfed by what he would achieve at the Bernabeu.

Over the course of nine seasons, Ronaldo scored an incredible 450 goals in 438 games to become the club’s leading goalscorer of all time. He also won two domestic titles and four UEFA Champions Leagues before moving to Juventus in 2018.

He would go on to return to Manchester United in 2021, scoring a healthy 27 goals in 54 games, in a spell that saw the club struggle for form before he moved to Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr on January 1st, 2023.