Is there a feeling that the era of Real Madrid's fourth large-scale Champions League win in its history is coming? The first time was in the 50s, when the first five Champions League titles were won by Real Madrid, and of course, the one in the 60s can also be included. The second time was at the turn of the century, when Real Madrid won the Champions League three times in five years. The third time was from 2014, and in 2018, in five years, Real Madrid won the championship 4 times.
As for the potential fourth, take 2022 as a starting point. First of all, Real Madrid has completed the renewal, the Magic Flute, Kroos is aging, Benzema, Marcelo, Casemiro have withdrawn, but the new generation of players such as Cubs, Rodrygo, Bellingham, Tchouameni, Camavinga and other players have gradually provoked the beam. Real Madrid's current squad can guarantee a strong competitiveness for the next five years, and this does not include the upcoming Mbappe. Therefore, the current Real Madrid definitely has the strength to start a bumper harvest stage of the Champions League.
This season, Real Madrid reached the last four of the Champions League, and historically, we can even say that as long as Real Madrid passes Bayern, then they are likely to usher in their 15th Champions League title. The reason why it is so optimistic is because Real Madrid's winning rate in the Champions League final in history is too high. Real Madrid have reached 17 Champions League finals and lost just three. Such a winning rate is also incomparable to other giants.
When it comes to the winning percentage of the final, we have to mention another team. Real Madrid is the team that has won the most Champions League titles, so who is the team that has won the most Champions League runners-up? Or to put it another way, who is the team with the lowest winning percentage in the final in the history of the Champions League? Be careful, don't take those teams who have only reached one or two finals and lost all of them, after all, there are too few cases to be analyzed.
Juventus, of course.
Since the end of the nine-game Serie A winning streak, Juventus has gradually disappeared from the mainstream view. In Serie A in recent years, Milan has been in charge. And Juventus won nine consecutive championships, and the most regrettable thing is that they reached the Champions League final twice and lost to their opponents. One defeat to Barcelona and one defeat to Real Madrid. Such an experience may be reminiscent of Atletico Madrid at the same time. But looking at the historical record, Juve are far more experienced than Atletico Madrid in losing in the Champions League final. Back in the seventies and eighties, Juventus lost to Ajax and Hamburg in Champions League finals. What impressed everyone more was their experience of reaching the Champions League final in three consecutive seasons in the 90s and losing twice. From the beginning of the 95-96 season to the 97-98 season, the powerful Juventus reached the final three times, winning only once against Ajax and losing to Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid.
Of course, the most classic is the 02-03 season, the Champions League final was staged in the Serie A derby for the first time, and Juventus, which lost Nedved, lost to AAC Milan on penalties.
In the nearly 60-year history of the Champions League, Juventus has reached a total of 9 finals, which is really a lot, but only twice has won the championship. That is, they lost 7 finals and finished runners-up 7 times. In terms of Champions League results, Juventus is not as good as Real Madrid, Bayern, Barcelona, Milan and other giants, in fact, to some extent, it is also related to the fact that they have lost too many finals. Assuming that Juventus can improve their winning rate in the final to around 50 per cent, they will now have four or five Champions League titles, at least on an equal footing with Barcelona.
However, the embarrassing thing is that Juventus has long passed their prime, and now they are difficult to reach the final even if they participate in the Champions League. Therefore, if Juventus want to improve their winning rate in the Champions League final, it may take quite a long time.