At a glance
- With two victories already this decade, Real Madrid’s Champions League triumph record is still the strongest in Europe.
- Winning the tournament every year is nigh on impossible, as club legend Luis Figo pointed out.
- What’s more concerning is what looks like a second consecutive year without major silverware.
Real Madrid legend Luis Figo noted that a year in which his former club don’t win major silverware is “extremely negative”. On the other hand, expecting to lift the Champions League isn’t logical and would also be boring according to the Portuguese forward.
Figo spoke via Betfair just a few days out from El Clasico. Having famously played for both clubs, he noted that Madrid’s stars don’t need extra pressure.
“As a player you don’t need to be put under more pressure, you know [it]. Just by playing in white,” he offered.
With Los Blancos closing in on a second consecutive term without major silverware, Figo noted that “the year in which Madrid don’t win any titles is an extremely negative year”.
As record 15-time winners, getting knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich in the Champions League was particularly rough.
The continental tournament “is in Real Madrid’s DNA” according to Figo. “History reflects what it means to the club. Furthermore, “there’s a magnetism and a mutual attraction.”
With victories in 2022 and 2024 already this decade, however, expecting glory every term is neither sensible nor realistic.
“Logically you can’t win it every year. There are other teams that also have this objective and are very good,” Figo explained. “If the same team always won, the Champions League would be very boring.”
Figo picks his best games for Barcelona and Real Madrid
As for his best games on the continent during his playing days, Figo remembers a remontada against Chelsea for Barcelona.
With Madrid, it’s perhaps a thrilling clash against Manchester United. Or, alternatively, the semifinal where Los Blancos knocked the Catalans out in 20202.
That of course led to his sole UCL trophy win at Hampden Park. “For me that Champions League was very special because it is the only one I have won,” Figo noted. “For every professional, lifting this title is a dream to fulfill, as it was for me from a very young age. It is the best competition at club level and the most difficult to achieve”.
Ironically, the fact the Galacticos only managed a single European domination together could be a lesson. Madrid won in 2022 and 2024 without a smattering of huge stars, and the attack functioned well in 2024 under Ancelotti.
By attempting to shoehorn Kylian Mbappe in during the summer of the later year, however, it can be argued that the harmony at Valdebebas has been disrupted. The results are there to draw your conclusions from.
