Real Madrid king of Europe. In the semi-finals of the LM for the eleventh time in the last 13 years

Real Madrid and the Champions League are two things that simply belong together. Los Blancos have secured their place in the semi-finals of the most prestigious competition for the eleventh time in the last 13 editions.

The years 2005-2010 were a dark period for Real. The royal club failed to get over the threshold of the eighth finals, even when the then best player in the world and Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo arrived in 2009. At that time, Lyon were the fateful team for Real in the eighth round.

But the Portuguese promised the fans that he owed them the Champions League and that he would finish it off at the Santiago Bernabéu. And so Real Madrid began to be the colossus you don’t want to run into in the Champions League again.

In 2011, 2012 and 2013 Real crashed out in the semi-finals, but in 2014 it was already an overall win. A year later, they reached the semifinals again, where they were unlucky not to beat Juventus.

But Real dominated the next three editions in a row, proving once again why they are the nicknamed King of Europe. No other team had managed to defend the trophy until then, Los Blancos had done it twice in a row.

After the departures of Ronaldo and Zidane, Real were searching a bit and the following two seasons their Champions League run ended in the eighth round, once after falling out with Ajax, the second time after falling out with Manchester City.

But then Real returned after a two-year hiatus to the semi-finals, where they fell short to Chelsea. Last season it was another trophy and now it is in the semi-finals again and can attack another defence.

In the last 13 years, Real have reached the top four eleven times. That is an absolutely staggering number. At the same time, if he wins the whole competition again, he would have 6 titles in the last 10 years.

Source: Champions League, UEFA