Real Madrid's sixth European Cup
Real Madrid and the European Cup (or UEFA Champions League as it is called today) have had a shared history since the birth of the competition, and it continues to this day. Much is said about the first 5 won under Di Stefano or the 3 won under Zidane as coach, or the seventh, won after 32 years, but little is said about the one achieved by Real Madrid's Ye-Ye, a team with fewer stars than usual but with the usual spirit of the Madrid institution.Real Madrid players celebrating their last UEFA Champions League win 2024
A bit of context
Real Madrid came from a decade in which it dominated Spain and in which it was 5 times European champion in the first 5 editions of the European Cup, with a team full of world stars such as Di Stefano, Puskas, Gento or Kopa and a president, Santiago Bernabeu, who had an image of the club that was becoming a reality, which was basically, turning Real Madrid into the best in the world.In 1965, it had been five years since the club's last European Cup win. Although they had reached two finals in that period, both had been defeated, the first against Eusebio's Benfica in 1962 and the second against Helenio Herrera's Inter in 1964. Real Madrid dominated the Spanish league but were beginning to find themselves unable to compete in Europe and, in 1964, Di Stefano left the club due to problems with the manager Miguel Muñoz, who had the full support of the president Bernabeu.
The departure of Di Stefano completed an almost total change of the Real Madrid squad if we take into account the team that had won the five European Cups, leaving only Puskas and Gento, along with a group of young players, some products of the white academy and other talented Spaniards such as Pirri or Amancio, who would make history at the club. Real Madrid had made a transition from a team full of stars to a younger and less famous one, although not lacking in talent, and with this team, they sought to rival the Italian teams that had won the last three editions of the European Cup, especially Herrera's Inter, who dominated with his Catenaccio.
The 1965-66 European Cup
The tournament featured 31 teams from different federations, which was a first for the competition. 30 of the 31 teams were champions of their respective leagues, except for Lyn, which at the start of the tournament was leading its league, although it would end up in second place. This situation was a result of the Norwegian league calendar at that time. Best's Manchester United was returning to the European Cup after the Munich air disaster, and teams such as Eusebio's Benfica and Florian Albert's Ferencvaros were taking part, as well as the aforementioned fashionable team of the time, Helenio Herrera's Inter.Preliminary round
Madrid started the tournament without being one of the favourites and they were drawn against a team that was clearly on the rise (along with the rest of the football in their country), Feyenoord. The European Cup maintained a two-leg format for each match-up and the final was the only single-match encounter. In this case, the first leg was in Rotterdam, where Puskas put the white team ahead, however, the Dutch would come back and leave a 2-1 as the final result.The expectations for Miguel Muñoz's team were low for the second leg but contrary to what was expected, Real Madrid would beat Feyenoord with a crushing 5-0, with 4 goals from Puskas, who played his last great European night with the club since at 38 years old, he was already losing his place in the starting eleven. The match ended with pitch invasion and aggression between the football players of both teams.
Round of 16 and quarter-finals
In the round of 16, they faced Kilmarnock and the first leg was in Scotland, where a match that could have gone either way ended in a 2-2 draw. In the match at the Bernabeu, Real Madrid would once again show their best scoring side and would score 5 goals against Kilmarnock, despite the Scots having started off winning with a goal from Brien McIlroy.The next opponent was Anderlecht from Belgium. In the first leg, Real Madrid were away again and once again had an unfavourable result, losing 1-0 with a goal from Van Himst after just two minutes of play. Two goals from Amancio and two from captain Gento in the second leg made the two late goals from the Belgians useless and the Madrid team qualified for the semi-finals of the tournament.
Semi-finals
In what was an early final, Real Madrid's path met that of Inter, who considered themselves so superior that their manager declared that "Real Madrid will be eliminated." Unlike what had happened in the previous rounds, this time the Spanish club played the first leg at home, where they managed to take the lead in the 13th minute with a goal from Pirri. The Spanish team's goalkeeper, Antonio Betancourt, was injured and, with no substitutions, had to remain on the pitch, although visibly affected. Real Madrid had to defend their goal and their goalkeeper tooth and nail to be able to maintain the result.In Milan, Real Madrid would go ahead again with a goal from Amancio in the 20th minute and after that, the Spaniards would give the Italians a taste of their own medicine to get the result that would allow them to qualify. The legendary Giacinto Facchetti scored in the 78th minute, but that goal would not be enough. In the other semi-final, Manchester United, who had just beaten Benfica, surprisingly lost to Partizan Belgrade with an aggregate score of 2-1.
The Final
On 11 May 1966, the final was played at the Heysel stadium in Brussels, where two surprise teams competed for the trophy. Real Madrid fielded an all-Spanish eleven, while Partizan Belgrade fielded eleven Yugoslavians. In the 55th minute, Velibor Vasovic put Partizan ahead, but in the 70th minute, Amancio scored the equaliser and just 6 minutes later, Serena scored the goal that completed another comeback for Real Madrid in the tournament and the consequent achievement of the title.Thanks to this, Paco Gento became the player with the most titles in the history of the European Cup until he was equalled in 2024 by Modric, Kroos, Carvajal and Nacho. That team was nicknamed the Madrid of the Ye-Ye, in honour of the British musical movement led by The Beatles at that time.