Real reach prestigious European milestone



No team can boast such a great affinity with the Champions League as Real Madrid ahead of the Spanish giants' 400th game in the tournament on Tuesday night, against Legia Warsaw.
Stretching across 61 seasons, Real first appeared in the inaugural 1955/56 edition, lifting the trophy thanks to a 4-3 victory over Stade Reims in the Paris final in front of just over 38,000 people.
It took until 1961 for a team to wrestle the silverware out of Blancos hands, when Benfica beat Barcelona in Bern, but the die was cast and the original version of the cup even now sits in the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu trophy room.
Real's sixth title came shortly afterwards but number seven would take over 30 years, just avoiding the turn of the century as Predrag Mijatovic fired Madrid past Juventus in May, 1998.
Two quickfire victories followed before twelve long years of suffering made the club wait for their tenth title, provided in a tense local derby with Atletico Madrid that would be repeated in 2016 for the Undecima, completing Los Blancos' tally of 11 titles, for now.
Overall, 102 sides have faced Real from 34 countries, with Los Merengues winning over half of their 399 clashes, 237, drawing 92 and losing 92.

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