The current relationship between Real Madrid and UEFA is not the best possible and this Saturday, Florentino Perez and Aleksander Ceferin will give a cordial greeting in the final of the UEFA Champions League that stars the white team with Borussia Dortmund. The president of the highest European football organization will receive, at his home -in this case in the Wembley box- the man who wants to dynamite what is considered the best football club competition in the world.
The Superliga issue is hotter than ever now after the latest ruling in favor of the ‘insurgent’ clubs, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, by which the 17th Commercial Court of Madrid accuses FIFA and UEFA of abuse of dominant position and of going against free competition in the market. It is curious that the great dominator of the UEFA Champions League -perhaps also the most mediatic club in the competition- is the one who wants to dispatch it for another competition called Superliga.
The final will bring together many personalities at Wembley, but the cameras will want to capture the meeting between the ‘intimate enemies’ Florentino Perez and Aleksander Ceferin, which will be one of the hot spots before the match and also afterwards, when the Slovenian will have to offer his ‘condolences’ or ‘congratulations’. A cordial moment, of respect, but little more between two people who are at odds in court.
“Thank you for stopping these bastards”
“No court, no police and no army can force people to accept something so absurd. The story of this so-called Super League is the story of our society: the question of whether money can buy everything. I met an old woman on the street in my country, Slovenia, after her first attempt in 2021. She was 80 or 90 years old and hadn’t followed football for a long time. She stopped me and said, ‘Thank you for stopping these bastards,‘” Ceferin explained in January during an interview with ‘The Guardian’.
Real Madrid won the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final. (Javier Garcia/Shutterstock)
Furthermore, alluding to Real Madrid, mainly, he commented that “we never said they can’t play their own competition. They talk about creating something and then they are the first to apply to play in our competition. I would ask them not to play in our competition and start working on theirs along with the number of clubs they have. I don’t understand what’s stopping them.” And not only are they playing in it, but they are in a new final to try to win it? It will be rare that Ceferin says this opinion directly to Florentino Perez this Saturday, although it is not necessary because they already know what each one thinks of the other.
Beyond this personal chapter, without forgetting that it has its load of morbid, the reality is that it is not something pleasant for the world of football that there are two antagonistic positions between one of the most important football entities in the world, as is UEFA, and one of the most mediatic football clubs in the world, Real Madrid. Football must emerge victorious from this confrontation.
REAL MADRID AND WEMBLEY
In sporting terms, despite its 14 European Cups, Real Madrid has never played a Champions League final at the legendary Wembley Stadium. This is also true of Dortmund, who have won one Champions League final in Munich. On that night in 1997, they were underdogs and defeated Juventus, led by a young Alessandro del Piero, 3-1.
THE FINAL
Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid have never met in a Champions League final but they have met in other Champions League rounds with a total of six wins for Real Madrid and three for Borussia Dortmund, as well as five draws. A more even balance than could be imagined.
For the memory of all Germans will be that 4-1 in Germany in 2013 where the men coached at the time by Jurgen Klopp almost certified their passage to the final with four goals from the now ‘culé’ Robert Lewandoski. Since that match, Real Madrid has dominated the encounters and the knockout rounds between the two.
In the current edition, Borussia Dortmund topped Group F, which included Paris Saint-Germain, Newcastle and AC Milan. In the round of 16, they overcame PSV and in the quarterfinals they beat Atletico Madrid. In the semifinal -as well as against Madrid- they were the underdogs, but PSG succumbed to the yellow wall and Dortmund made it to the London final.
As for Real Madrid, they qualified for the round of 16 without any problems. Brahim Diaz was in charge of unblocking Leipzig in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals, Lunin appeared and was the best in both matches against Manchester City, giving Real Madrid the pass to the semifinal on penalties when all the data gave the English as favorites. Bayern Munich were waiting and Joselu appeared in the second leg to break down the German wall and the partial advantage 10 minutes before the end of the tie.
An unprecedented final on the pitch, and a train wreck in the box.
