When football administrators dreamt up the European Cup in the 1950s, one suspects they thought the trophy would soon be won by a succession of the continent’s best teams. What they got was a Madrilenian stranglehold, as Real Madrid won the competition in each of its first five years, beginning in 1956. Real Madrid’s team of that era was filled with such stars as Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo Di Stefano. Times may have changed, but those winning habits haven’t.
Today’s Real team is also packed with some of the world’s best players and on Saturday night the team bagged their third Champions League title – as the European Cup is now called – in four years. That Madrilenian grip is tightening around the trophy again.
Their victory will have been cheered all around the region and, perhaps, more keenly here. Madrid last played in the UAE in 2014, in a Dubai friendly. Their Saturday-night win ensures they will be back in the UAE for the Club World Cup in December in Abu Dhabi.
