Real Madrid won the Champions League in 2016-17, becoming the first side since the European Cup was rebranded as the UEFA Champions League in 1992 to defend their title, collecting their 12th overall.
In the final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff against Juventus, a repeat of their 1998 clash, Zinedine Zidane masterminded a 4-1 triumph for Los Blancos, thanks to goals from Casemiro and Marcos Asensio and a double from Cristiano Ronaldo, who finished as tournament top scorer with 12.
CHANGES
The two newcomers to the 2016-17 Champions League group stages were Leicester City, who shocked the world the previous season when they won the English Premier League, and FC Rostov of Russia. In the summer of 2016 there was a managerial merry-go-round which saw elite clubs on the continent appoint new bosses; Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho, both two-time winners of the competition as managers, took the reigns at Manchester City and Manchester United respectively.
Carlo Ancelotti was appointed head coach of Bayern Munich, while Unai Emery was put in charge of Paris Saint-Germain’s expensively-assembled squad. As ever, the established sides splashed the cash in preparation for their assault on the Champions League. Manchester United broke the then-world transfer record to re-sign Paul Pogba from Juventus for £94 million, with the Old Lady using the money generated to bring in Gonzalo Higuain of Napoli for £81 million.
SUMMARY
Real Madrid started the defence of their title with a match at home against Sporting, but they would have to rely on two late goals from Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata to scrape a 2-1 win. Zidane’s side would finish second in Group F behind Borussia Dortmund, who recorded the highest-ever win at this stage of the competition, an absurd 8-4 victory over Legia Warsaw.
Six teams progressed to the knockout stage without losing a single game – Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid, and Juventus – and ended without too…
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Author : editors@footballcritic.com (Martin Macdonald)
Publish date : 2024-07-22 14:00:00
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