Real Madrid vs Chelsea: A potted history of Blues versus Whites

Real Madrid has never beaten Chelsea in a European competition. That said, the history books are hardly packed with tales of titanic battles between the two. They’ve only met twice, both finals, both resulting in Blues victories. As the two look to square up in the semifinal of this season’s Champions League, Los Blancos will be hoping to get one over on their blue rivals.

European Cup Winners Cup Final (two legs in 1971)

The two clubs first faced one another in the final of the now defunct European Cup Winners Cup. Having defeated Leeds United the season before in an epic FA Cup Final, victory in that competition put Chelsea the following season’s Cup Winners Cup. It was a game that, like the Leeds final, was initially drawn and then replayed.

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Both games were played in Athens just two days apart. Peter Osgood put the Blues ahead in the first game with Madrid not equalising until the 90′. Extra time produced nothing in the way of goals and the game went to that replay. Two first half goals, one from John Demspey and the other from Osgood again, put Chelsea in control. Real hit back in the second half, but could not stop the Blues from grabbing their first European trophy.

It was a long time until the two would meet again. Dave Sexton managed Chelsea back in 1971, it was 14 managers later when the London Blues would meet the Madrid Whites. It was 1998 and Gianluca Vialli was beginning to mould Chelsea into the world beating side it would become a few years down the line.

UEFA Super Cup Final (1998)

Any competition that uses the adjective Super at its head is clearly going to be at the pinnacle of the said sport. Long before leagues were thought to be super, the Super Cup was—and still is—played between the winners of the Champions League and now, the Europa League. Before that, the Cup Winners Cup champions contested it. That was Chelsea in 1998. Victory over Middlesbrough the previous season set up another blue and white encounter.

In all honesty, like the now dysfunctional league, the Super Cup isn’t really that super. It’s a one-off game that is really just a jolly-up for UEFA’s big-wigs. This convergence, appropriately, took place in Monaco, there was a game of football too. Chelsea’s side featured Gianfranco Zola, Roberto di Matteo and Celestine Babayaro. It was Zola that set up Gus Poyet to score the winning goal in the 82′.

The game was hardly a spectacle, Monaco’s stadium held around 15,000 people, 5,000 supporters of the two teams were in the ground. It was almost like watching a game in today’s stadia bereft of support due to the pandemic. Interestingly, someone who would become a firm favourite at Stamford Bridge in later years managed Madrid that day. Guus Hiddink would become Chelsea’s finest interim manager.

Managers and Players

Of course, there are other links between the two clubs aside from matches. We know Hiddink managed the two, but so did Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and last but least, Rafael Benitez. Where Mourinho topped out at Chelsea, it was Ancelotti who was the most successful with Madrid.

Something we can, as Chelsea fans, look forward to in the home leg of the tie will be the return of Eden Hazard to Stamford Bridge. The Belgian’s on-off departure kept fans guessing for a long while, but when Marina Granovskaia finally did the deal, it was a good one. Hazard’s time at the Bernabeu has, however, been blighted by injury. For sure, his best days were in London. Prior to Hazard making the move south, Thibaut Courtois also left. Hazard’s dream was always to play for Madrid, Courtois’ was to see his kids. The Belgian keeper’s departure was acrimonious and left a sour taste in the mouths of Blues fans. Hazard remains, for this writer anyway, a Chelsea legend. Courtois, well, let’s leave that.

Arjen Robben, another player susceptible to injury, also left Chelsea for Madrid. Robben had a turn of pace rarely seen in the Premier League. However, that did see him sidelined more times than fans would have liked. It wasn’t until the flying Dutchman went to Bayern Munich in 2009 from Real that his career delivered what Blues fans would liked to have seen.

Other notable players moving the other way included Claude Makelele in 2003. The Frenchman synonymous with a position that took his name was instrumental in Chelsea’s success, firstly under Claudio Ranieri and then Mourinho. He’s currently back in London working at the Cobham academy.

More recently, Alvaro Morata and Mateo Kovacic have made the switch. Morata simply never settled in London. It’s easy to be critical but sometimes things are just not meant to be. Kovacic, on the other hand, has flourished since his arrival. The Premier League suits the Croatian well and Madrid won’t be looking forward to meeting up, should he recover from injury. Other players that have played for both teams in some way, include Marcos Alonso, Gonzalo Higuain, Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Essien, Samuel Eto’o and Nicolas Anelka. Juan Mata spent some time in the Madrid academy set-up.

Super League talk is bound to overshadow this round of games, none more so than between Chelsea and Real Madrid. However, for the sake of everyone’s sanity, that has to be put on the back burner. This game is as big as they come, the prize, a place in the final of the Champions League, is as big a reward as club football is ever likely to deliver. Long may that continue.