The Champions League final will be held at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, June 1st, as it will welcome German side Borussia Dortmund and Spanish outfit Real Madrid. It will be a second Champions League final at Wembley for Dortmund, who lost to Bayern Munich there in 2013, but only a second-ever visit for Real Madrid.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
Los Blancos have only once before played at Wembley Stadium, never having coincided with a European final there and given the nature of the arena as a stadium primarily used for finals and international competitions.
That visit came in November 2017, while Tottenham Hotspur was using the stadium as their home due to ongoing building work to prepare them to move into their new facility in North London.
The fixture was a Champions League group stage game, with Tottenham springing a surprise on Real Madrid as they ran out 3-1 winners in front of 83,000 spectators. It remains Real Madrid’s only visit to the stadium to this day.
Zinedine Zidane was the coach on the night, though only three of those who played are likely to be involved in the final. Among them are current captain Nacho Fernández and midfield duo Luka Modrić and Toni Kroos.
English midfielder Dele Alli scored twice for Tottenham to give them the lead, with Christian Eriksen, now with Manchester United, scoring a third. Cristiano Ronaldo pulled one back for the visitors in the closing stages.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Wembley record
This will be Carlo Ancelotti’s fifth visit to Wembley, having previously made four appearances at the stadium while in charge of Chelsea. His previous visits include a run of three victories and one defeat, with two coming in the FA Cup and two in the Community Shield.
His first visit came in 2009, with a 4-1 penalty shoot-out win over Manchester United in the Community Shield after a 2-2 draw, with Petr Cech providing the heroics to save two penalties.
Later that same season, in 2010, a 3-0 win over Aston Villa in the FA Cup semi-final set the Italian’s team up for a 1-0 victory against Portsmouth in the final. That teed them up for another Community Shield visit in August 2010, though Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United would get their revenge one year later with a 3-1 win.
Jude Bellingham’s second home
One man in the Real Madrid ranks who is no stranger to Wembley is Jude Bellingham, who has played at the stadium on 15 occasions for the English national team. The tally has earned him an impressive run of 12 wins, two draws and only one defeat.
That defeat came in March when future Real Madrid player Endrick scored a late winner for Brazil at Wembley, consigning Bellingham to his first defeat on the turf of the famous British stadium.
What is clear is that Bellingham is no stranger to the arena, and his last outing will boost Real Madrid fans’ optimism. It came in a 2-2 draw with Belgium, where Bellingham scored his first goal at Wembley with a 95th minute equaliser.