The 2023/24 UEFA Champions League semi-finals pitted two of Europe’s most decorated teams against each other in another seismic clash.
In the white corner was Real Madrid, 14-time champion. No one has won Europe’s top competition more often and is not particularly close to the top of the all-time rankings.
In the red corner, the six-time champion Bayern Munich, who stands out among the best.
Both clubs have done much to cement the competition’s pre-eminence, from Madrid’s historic five victories in the first five editions of the European Cup to Bayern’s three in a row between 1973/74 and 1975/76 inspired by the imperious Franz Beckenbauer .
Madrid and Bayern have faced each other more frequently in the Champions League than any other pairing. This will be his eighth solo semi-final.
The Jugo Mobile looks back at the history of this clash between the most successful team in the competition’s history and the six-time winner, whom they have faced more frequently than any other team on this stage.
History of Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich, previous matches
The collective history of Bayern and Madrid began sparingly, with one draw in the 1970s and then two in consecutive seasons in the mid-to-late 1980s.
In the 21st century, with a greater concentration of wealth, resources and elite players among a small group of superclubs, it has truly become a rivalry, although the upcoming semi-final is their first meeting in six years.
| Season | Round | Local team | Away team | Result |
| 2017/18 | Semifinals | real Madrid | Bayern Munich | 2-2 |
| 2017/18 | Semifinals | Bayern Munich | real Madrid | 1-2 |
| 2016/17 | Quarter finals | real Madrid | Bayern Munich | 4-2 (aet) |
| 2016/17 | Quarter finals | Bayern Munich | real Madrid | 1-2 |
| 2013/14 | Semifinals | Bayern Munich | real Madrid | 0-4 |
| 2013/14 | Semifinals | real Madrid | Bayern Munich | 1-0 |
| 2011/12 | Semifinals | real Madrid | Bayern Munich | 2-1 (Bayern won 3-1 on penalties) |
| 2011/12 | Semifinals | Bayern Munich | real Madrid | 2-1 |
| 2006/07 | round of 16 | Bayern Munich | city man | 2-1 (Bayern advances thanks to away goals) |
| 2006/07 | round of 16 | real Madrid | Bayern Munich | 3-2 |
| 2003/04 | round of 16 | real Madrid | Bayern Munich | 1-0 |
| 2003/04 | round of 16 | Bayern Munich | real Madrid | 1-1 |
| 2001/02 | Quarter finals | real Madrid | Bayern Munich | 2-0 |
| 2001/02 | Quarter finals | Bayern Munich | real Madrid | 2-1 |
| 2000/01 | Semifinals | Bayern Munich | real Madrid | 2-1 |
| 2000/01 | Semifinals | real Madrid | Bayern Munich | 0-1 |
| 1999/00 | Semifinals | Bayern Munich | real Madrid | 2-1 |
| 1999/00 | Semifinals | real Madrid | Bayern Munich | 2-0 |
| 1999/00 | 2nd group stage | Bayern Munich | real Madrid | 4-1 |
| 1999/00 | 2nd group stage | real Madrid | Bayern Munich | 2-4 |
| 1987/88 | Quarter finals | real Madrid | Bayern Munich | 2-0 |
| 1987/88 | Quarter finals | Bayern Munich | real Madrid | 3-2 |
| 1986/87 | Semifinals | real Madrid | Bayern Munich | 1-0 |
| 1986/87 | Semifinals | Bayern Munich | real Madrid | 4-1 |
| 1975/76 | Semifinals | Bayern Munich | real Madrid | 2-0 |
| 1975/76 | Semifinals | real Madrid | Bayern Munich | 1-1 |
Direct confrontation between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich
In total, these teams have faced each other 26 times in this competition. Real Madrid overshadows the head-to-head statistics with 12 wins to Bayern’s 11, with three draws.
Even in terms of goals scored, Madrid’s lead is particularly narrow with a cumulative score of 41-39 over five decades.
Below, we review some of the most memorable matches throughout the rivalry.
Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich (semifinals 1976)
Madrid may have made the European Cup their personal turf in the 1950s, but in the 1970s this was Bayern’s competition.
Led by transformative captain Beckenbauer, Bayern’s first meeting with Los Blancos came en route to a third consecutive title.
The Spanish giants took an early lead at the Santiago Bernabeu through Roberto Martínez, but then suffered a fate familiar to most Bayern or West German opponents in this era: Gerd Muller happened. The master goalscorer earned a 1-1 draw in the first leg before scoring both goals in Bayern’s 2-0 victory in the second leg at Munich’s Olympiastadion.
Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich (quarterfinals 1988)
This meeting occurred during a period of relative inactivity for Madrid. At the time they were six-time European champions, but their most recent success was 12 years away and still a decade away from title number seven. But Los Blancos capitalized on a trait that would become familiar during their most recent dominant period: the stirring comeback.
Against a Bayern side that had beaten them 4-2 on aggregate during the previous season’s semi-finals, Madrid were down 3-0 in Munich as the first leg entered its final five minutes. Goals from star forwards Emiliano Butragueño and Hugo Sánchez changed the entire complexion of the tie.
Back at the Bernabéu, first-half goals from Milan Jankovic and Michel were enough to secure a 2-0 victory. The tie seemed to have opened for Madrid, but they were eliminated on away goals against the eventual winner, PSV, in the semi-finals.
Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich (semifinals 2000)
It is well documented that Bayern were left cursing their luck in the Champions League in 1999, having gone into stoppage time in the final at the Camp Nou 1-0 against Manchester United before quickly losing 2-1. The following year, everyone involved in the club should have given up walking under stairs.
The 1999/00 edition of the Champions League featured the short-lived second group stage. Bayern were tied with Madrid in Group C and beat them twice, 4-2 at the Bernabéu and 4-1 in Munich.
That didn’t help when Nicolas Anelka scored early to set up a 2-0 win in Madrid when the teams met again for the semi-finals. The enigmatic French striker scored an away goal in the second leg to put a tie out of reach for Bayern, who won 2-1 that night. They beat Madrid three times in the Champions League after Christmas 1999/00 and still were eliminated.
Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich (semifinals 2012)
Bayern had intended to win the 2011/12 Champions League at home at the Allianz Arena, but Madrid pushed them to the limit in a thrilling semi-final.
A late goal from Mario Gómez gave Jupp Heynckes’ team a 2-1 lead after the home game, but a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty put Madrid into flight in the second leg and the five-time Ballon winner Oro had overturned the deficit in 14 minutes. .
Arjen Robben leveled the tie with a penalty before the half-hour mark and almost 100 minutes of tense goalless football followed before the penalties. This time Ronaldo was rejected by Manuel Neuer, as was Kaká. Iker Casillas saved from Toni Kroos and Philipp Lahm to give Madrid hope, but Sergio Ramos parried the fourth shot and Bastian Schweinsteiger put Bayern through. They wouldn’t do so well when the final against Chelsea was decided on penalties.
Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich (semifinals 2014)
After winning two Champions Leagues with Barcelona, Pep Guardiola encountered familiar enemies in his first season at Bayern. With the Bundesliga already secured in a short time, Die Roten headed to the Bernabéu confident of retaining their European crown. That Karim Benzema scored the only goal of the first leg was not a footballing disaster. What followed certainly was.
“I was wrong, man. I was totally wrong. It’s a monumental mistake,” Guardiola told his biographer Martí Perarnau after a 4-0 capitulation against Madrid at the Allianz. “A total disaster. The biggest shit of my life as a coach.”
Ramos and Ronaldo scored twice each as Bayern’s defense capitulated and Guardiola’s bid for an ultra-aggressive approach backfired as his team was left brutally exposed to the counter-attack. Madrid won its tenth European title, achieving The Tenth with a victory in extra time over Atlético de Madrid. Guardiola would endure much more pain and wait 10 more years to play in the third Champions League of his career as a coach.
Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich (quarterfinals 2017)
The 2014 success began an uninterrupted streak of three consecutive knockout wins in the rivalry for Madrid. Carlo Ancelotti was on the other bench in 2017 when his Bayern team was defeated 2-1 by a Ronaldo double in the first leg of the quarter-finals, where Javi Martínez was sent off.
A tense second leg in Madrid ended goalless until Robert Lewandowski scored a penalty in the 53rd minute. Ronaldo scored in the final 15 minutes before a Ramos own goal forced extra time.
Bayern were somewhat compromised when Arturo Vidal received a red card six minutes from the end of normal time and Ronaldo tightened the screw in extra time, completing a hat-trick before Marco Asensio ensured Madrid’s progress towards a final victory 4-1 over Juventus. in Cardiff.
