The second Madrid derby to make this list, the 2014 meeting between Real and Atletico had a particularly dramatic finish. The two Diegos took centre stage in the first half for Atletico Madrid; the main goal threat Diego Costa came off injured after just 8 minutes and left Simeone’s side fearing the worst, but centre-back Diego Godin took up the goalscoring mantle to put them ahead after half an hour.
This tie was memorable for several reasons as AC Milan wasn’t even the favorites to win. Fabio Capello’s Milan team defied all expectations and romped to victory. Dejan Savicevic scored the pick of the goals with a superb lob from the edge of the box, with the other goals coming from Marcel Desailly and a Daniele Massaro brace. Johan Cruyff’s men were well and truly put to the sword. As the biggest victory on the biggest stage, this has to go down as one of the all-time best Champions League finals.
The 2016 final did not disappoint in what was the second Champions League final between the two Madrid sides in three years. There was no shortage of controversy, as Real’s Sergio Ramos proved himself the scourge of Atletico by scoring the game’s opener from an offside position. Atletico came back into it, with Yannick Carrasco equalising late on after Antoine Griezmann had missed a second-half penalty. After a cagey period of extra time, the match went to penalties, and from then on there was only one outcome.
AC Milan was the heavy favorite against a sub-par Liverpool team who had finished 5th in the Premier League. In contrast to Rafa Benitez’s side, the Italian giants had a team boasting of world-class talents. Their quality showed in the first half. They were ahead in under a minute, with captain Paolo Maldini volleying in from an Andrea Pirlo free-kick. Two further goals from Hernan Crespo meant Milan went into half-time with a comfortable three-goal lead. However, nobody could have foreseen the events of the second half. Liverpool scored 3 times in 6 scarcely believable minutes, pulling the game back with goals from Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso, sending the majority-Scouse crowd wild.
For 90 minutes, this wasn’t a particularly thrilling Champions League tie. Bayern had taken an early lead through a Mario Basler free-kick, and Man United found a well-organised Bayern defence difficult to breach. As the clock ticked past 90 minutes it looked like any hopes of European glory for United was fading. However, two second-half substitutes turned the tie on its head in injury time. Teddy Sheringham was the first saviour, levelling at the death with an instinctive finish. Two minutes later United was in dreamland; Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored from a corner to give the Red Devils the unlikeliest of wins.
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