Real Madrid on track for best start ever in club’s 120 year history
Should Ancelotti’s men beat Osasuna, Shakhtar and Getafe, they would record the best start to a season in the club’s 120-year history with the current record held by Miguel Muñoz, with 11 wins.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid are three wins away from writing a major chapter in the club’s history books. The current record for the best start to a season belongs to Miguel Muñoz and his Madrid side from the 1960s. At the start of the 1961-62 season, the coach oversaw 11 consecutive wins in the opening matches of the campaign (including the League and the European Cup). At present Carlo Ancelotti’s Madrid have won nine in a row: the first six league games, two Champions League games and the UEFA Super Cup in August.
Real Madrid’s next three games see ‘Los Blancos’ face: Osasuna (home), Shakhtar (home in the UCL) and Getafe (away). Wins over the side from Pamplona and in the Champions League would see Madrid equal the record, while a derby win on top of two previous victories would see the current side write history. The present run is already the best opening to a season in the entire 21st century, with Ancelotti eclipsing the opening seven victories by Pellegrini’s Madrid team at the start of the 2009-10 season. The Bernabéu side also recorded seven wins in a row in the 1916-17, 1931-32 and 1934-35 seasons.
It was a 1-0 defeat away to Real Oviedo that put paid to Muñoz’s team’s incredible 1961-62 season run after Madrid had won the first eight games of the League along with three European Cup triumphs to record the 11 in a row record. Seven years later, in 1968-69, they were left tantalisingly close to going one better after winning the first nine league games (including a Clásico) and the two European Cup matches and it was Rapid Vienna who broke the streak with a 1-0 win in the first leg of the round of 16 of the European Cup. Real Madrid have won their first 11 games twice and this current team have an incredible opportunity to make history.