(Football news) Real Madrid added Champions League title number 15 to their ever-growing collection last season, while their Italian foes unexpectedly slayed a hitherto invincible Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final.
As chance after chance went begging for Borussia Dortmund during the 2023-24 Champions League final under the Wembley arch, the consensus was that the German giants would be left to regret those wasted opportunities against Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid, whose continental nous is second to none.
True enough, the men in white taught Dortmund a harsh lesson in ruthlessness through Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior in the second half to regain their rightful European Cup trophy, one of three crowns they won in 2023-24 alongside the La Liga title and Spanish Super Cup.
A last-16 exit in the Copa del Rey was the only miniscule not on Ancelotti’s Bernabeu notebook, and ‘Don Carlo’ – as he is affectionately known in the Spanish capital – has elected to continue in the Real hotseat for at least one more season, despite previous claims of an agreement with the Brazil national team.
In customary Blancos fashion, the European champions have not undertaken a major summer overhaul of their squad – which is now without two stalwarts in Toni Kroos and Nacho Fernandez – but Kylian Mbappe is finally donning the famous strip after years of trying.
The former Paris Saint-Germain forward has been observing Real’s mixed pre-season from afar – Ancelotti’s men overcame Chelsea and Albacete either side of defeats to AC Milan and Barcelona – but will now aid Los Blancos’ quest for an unprecedented sixth UEFA Super Cup honour.
While Real Madrid’s current total of five UEFA Super Cup crowns puts them at the top of the charts alongside their two recent conquerors in Barcelona and Milan, Wednesday’s battle in Warsaw will represent Atalanta’s baptism in the continental curtain-raiser after their Ademola Lookman-inspired Europa League triumph.
In spite of their previous stunning success over pre-tournament favourites Liverpool, few gave Gian Piero Gasperini’s men any hope of trumping Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen juggernaut, only for an astounding Lookman hat-trick to clinch La Dea’s inaugural European title, and their first trophy of any sort for 61 years.
From missing a horrendous panenka penalty against West Ham United during his Fulham days to becoming the first man to score a hat-trick in a Europa League final, Lookman may have single-handedly destroyed the Leverkusen defence goals-wise, but Gasperini received numerous plaudits for how his troops pressed the Bundesliga Invincibles off the park.
Europa League glory complemented a fourth-placed Serie A finish and Coppa Italia runners-up medal for the Italian titans, who also have a meeting with Copa Sudamericana winners LDU Quito to come in the UEFA-CONMEBOL Club Challenge, in addition to participating in next year’s Supercoppa Italiana.
However, Gasperini’s men have posted a pitiful set of pre-season results – a 2-2 draw with AZ Alkmaar preceded heavy losses to Parma (4-1) and FC St. Pauli (3-0) – but as Dublin witnessed a few months ago, Atalanta can turn the heat up to maximum when a European trophy is on the line.
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