Europe’s two most successful teams drawn together in Champions League

The league phase of the newly-expanded Champions League took shape on Thursday. Cristiano Ronaldo and Gianluigi Buffon were the guests of honour for the draw and oversaw an exciting set of fixtures.

Key among those was a meeting between the two most successful teams in the history of European soccer. Real Madrid (14 titles) and AC Milan (7) are the two most decorated teams in the history of the European Cup/Champions League, a fitting tie for the first iteration of this new-look competition.

Madrid and Milan have previously met 15 times in this competition and the record is completely even. Each team has managed six wins and the remaining three games were drawn. The most recent meetings between the two came in the 2010/11 group stage when Real Madrid won 2-0 at home and secured a 2-2 draw at the San Siro.

This season’s game will be played at the Santiago Bernabéu in the Spanish capital but a date has not yet been confirmed for the game. UEFA will wait until the conclusion of the Europa League and Conference League draws on Friday before starting to compile the fixture calendar. The confirmed dates should be announced on Saturday, August 31.

The new format is designed to produce more games between top teams earlier on in the competition and that’s exactly what has happened. In addition to the AC Milan clash, Real Madrid will also take on six-time winners Liverpool and last year’s finalists Borussia Dortmund in the league phase.

Carlo Ancelotti meets former team

There are so many potential storylines in this classic UCL match-up, but the return of Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti is one of the most fascinating. The Italian spent a total of 13 years with AC Milan as a player and then as a manager, playing a key role in the two most successful periods in the club’s illustrious history.

As a player he was a key part of the famous AC Milan teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s, winning two Serie A title and two European Cups at San Siro.

After hanging up his boots he became a coach and went on to become one of the most celebrated and successful managers of all time. He coached Reggiana, Parma and Juventus at the start of his career but it was with Milan that he truly elevated himself to one of the world’s best.

He led Milan to the Champions League in 2002/03 and 2006/07, before leaving to join Chelsea in 2009. He has coached many of the world’s top club teams but has found a real home at the Santiago Bernabeu, winning a further three Champions Leagues with Real Madrid. Across his career as a player and a coach, he has been crowned European champion an incredible seven times.