Real Madrid vs Manchester City and Dortmund vs Atletico Madrid, The First Encounters

 

The first encounters of two Madrid sides against their oppositions in the UCL quarterfinals this week reveal their mixed results in the past.

UEFA Champions League 2023/24 has reached quarterfinals. Eight teams have gone through this far and are set to square off within two weeks for both fixtures. Each clash at this stage has its own story and nothing is more memorable than their first encounter.

This week, the focus will be on the duel involving two Madrid sides, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid against their opponents, Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund respectively. Here are their first clash in history, which happened to occur in this continental top flight competition as well.

Real Madrid vs Manchester City (UCL 2012/13)

The first encounter between the champions of the last two UCL editions took place in October 2012. Both were the league winners in the previous season and seeded in the same group. Los Blancos was under Jose Mourinho with the star-studded squad led by Cristiano Ronaldo and included Angel Di Maria, Karim Benzema, Mesut Ozil, Pepe, Gonzalo Higuain and the current Bayer Leverkusen boss, Xabi Alonso. Meanwhile, The Citizens had Roberto Mancini on their side with top names in the squad such as David Silva, Carlos Tevez, Edin Dzeko, Yaya Toure and the current Burnley manager, Vincent Kompany.

Real Madrid played host first in this encounter. They both initially deployed 4-3-3 formation. Los Blancos dominated the game but relied too much on the long range shots and long cross in their attempts to break the deadlock. Manchester City were forced to sit deep and close down the home side’s attack from all directions just outside the penalty area. Both sides shared spoil in a goalless draw in the first 45 minutes.

Such tactics seemed to prevail as they could draw almost all Los Blancos’ men join the attack. Mancini’s men suddenly found the space and moment to counter attack and took the led from Edin Dzeko’s strike in the 68^th minute. Yaya Toure won a sprint race from outside the six yard box and passed the through ball to the Bosnian forward. However, Marcelo scored an equalizer eight minutes later from long shot just outside the box. In the 85^th minute, The Citizens stunned the home fans as Alexander Kolarov’s free kick from the left side of Madrid’s defence line hit the target. Luckily, Mourinho’s men replied almost instantly as Karim Benzema’s goal drew them level two minutes later. Finally, Cristiano Ronaldo came to save the day right at the death. He penetrated from the left and struck the ball to the far side leaving Joe Hart, who previously managed to deny the Portuguese superstar’s attempts three times, in a limbo. It was an entertaining clash with a 3-2 win for the home side.

Match statistics:

	Real Madrid	Manchester City
Shots on goal	12	3
Shots off target	16	5
Saves	1	9
Blocks	2	8

 In the reverse fixture, both sides could only muster a 1-1 draw. Los Blancos eventually managed to progress to semifinal before slumping to a heavy loss against Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund, while Manchester City sat at the bottom of the table with only three points in hand.

Atletico Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund 

(Champions Cup 1995/96)

Atletico Madrid’s memory on the first encounter versus Borussia Dortmund was rather embarrassing. They were humiliated in a 1-0 defeat at home in the 1995/96 season. They were grouped alongside the 1986 European Cup champions, Steaua Bucharest and Poland’s Widzew Lodz.

Los Rojiblancos was under Serbian boss, Radomir Antic, at that time with a number of well-known players in the squad such as Kiko Narvaez, the former Argentinean frontman, Juan Esnaider, Czech Republic star in EURO 1996, Radek Bejbl and the current Atletico manager, Diego Simeone. On the other hand, Dortmund had Ottmar Hizfield in command with several Bundesliga stars in the team such as Andreas Moeller, Joerg Heinrich, Karl Heiz Riedl, Jurgen Kohler and the renowned Swiss forward in 1990s, Stephane Chapuisat.

It was a tight affair in Atletico’s old home turf, Estadio Vicente Calderon. The La Liga champions took more chances to score as soon as possible but Stefan Klos made a number of crucial saves throughout the game. Die Borussen was more under pressure in the first half, before they were able to net one goal in the second half. The defender Stefan Reuter surprisingly tucked away the ball into the back of the net in the 51^st minute. Diego Simeone and Co then went all out to find an equalizer but their attempts were blocked either by the German champions’ backline or went off the target, including a header from Simeone.

Match statistics:

	Atletico Madrid	Borussia Dortmund
Shots on goal (approx.)	5	1
Shots off target (approx.)	8	5
Saves (approx.)	1	6
Blocks (approx.)	1	4

 In the reverse fixture, it was Dortmund’s turn to suffer a defeat. Radomir Antic’s men found redemption by snatching a 2-1 victory on the road. Both teams did go through the next stage. Los Colconeros sadly could not east past Ajax in the quarterfinal, whereas Stephane Chapuisat and Co went all the way to the final and clinched their first ever UCL title after smashing the favorite and defending champions, Juventus 3-1 in Olympiastadion, Munich.