the historical ‘curse’ that Real Madrid is obliged to break against City

If football has taught us anything throughout its history, it is that success is fleeting. One day you can be celebrating a great victory and, a few hours later, reality makes you quickly forget it and focus only on the present. That’s what happens to Real Madridwho has just won a League more than deserved, and four days later, knows that he has the most demanding exam of the season: turn the tie against Manchester City around if you want to get into the Champions League final.

But the work of Real Madrid is not easy at all. If the whites have been characterized by anything throughout the season -and throughout their history-, it is their ability to never give up and come back from games or qualifiers in which any other team would have thrown in the towel. But Madrid is different: the fight and dedication is a fundamental part of their DNA, which has helped them sign historic nights, like the one against PSG or, most recently, against Chelsea.

Now, Madrid is facing its penultimate challenge: turn 4 to 3 of the Etihad Stadium to dream with getting into the final in Paris. To do this, he must once again show his best version on the pitch at the Santiago Bernabéu to win, yes or yes. If he does it for a difference goal, he would force the extra time; if he does it by two or more goals, he will have achieved the coveted ticket for the title game. But Madrid is facing a rival of greater substance than City itself: the history.

And it is that the white team has a pintiparado opportunity for, in this excellent sports course, end a ‘curse’ that resists since the start of the European Cup: they have never come from behind in a semi-final tie when you have lost the first leg. On the previous eight occasions in which this happened, the Whites were unable to reverse the adverse result of the first match, a record that could be broken definitively this Wednesday.

The first time that Madrid hit the wall in the semifinals after losing in the first leg was in the season 1967-68 in front of Manchester United. Madrid lost 1-0 at Old Trafford and, in the second leg, the Whites did not go beyond a 3-3 draw. It would be in the 72-73 when, before the Ajaxthe whites were defeated in Amsterdam by 2-1. Madrid could not beat the Dutch at home, and they lost again, this time by 0-1.