won the Champions League while playing for the club in 2002 This final was the sixth tournament final to feature two teams from the same association, the third all-Spanish final, and the second between teams from the same city, fielding exactly the two teams that faced each other in the
2014 final, making it the seventh repeated final pairing. The
all-Madrid final also guaranteed the city of
Madrid becoming the most successful city in the European Cup with 11 wins and 17 final appearances, and also in all UEFA club competitions with 16 wins, overtaking the city of
Milan with 10 wins and 16 final appearances in the European Cup and 15 wins in all UEFA club competitions.
Real Madrid reached a record 14th final after a 1–0 aggregate win against
Manchester City, with a chance to win a
record 11th title. Previously, they won finals in
1956,
1957,
1958,
1959,
1960,
1966,
1998,
2000,
2002, and 2014, and lost in
1962,
1964 and
1981. This was also their 18th final in all UEFA club competitions, having also played in two
Cup Winners' Cup finals (losing in
1971 and
1983) and two
UEFA Cup finals (winning in
1985 and
1986). Their manager,
Zinedine Zidane, who scored the winning goal for Real Madrid in the 2002 final, was aiming to become the seventh man to win the Champions League as both player and manager, joining
Miguel Muñoz,
Giovanni Trapattoni,
Johan Cruyff,
Carlo Ancelotti,
Frank Rijkaard and
Pep Guardiola. The team had had a disastrous first half of the season, being left out of contention to win La Liga, sacking newly-appointed
Rafael Benítez in January.
Atlético Madrid reached their third European Cup final after defeating
Bayern Munich on away goals (2–2 on aggregate). Their previous two European Cup finals in
1974 and 2014 both ended in defeats, to Bayern Munich and Real Madrid respectively. Atlético Madrid had also played in three
Cup Winners' Cup finals (winning in
1962, and losing in
1963 and
1986) and two
Europa League finals (winning in
2010 and
2012), with their most recent Europa League triumph in 2012 led by current coach
Diego Simeone, widely attributed as having brought Atlético Madrid back to glory, but had yet to win a Champions League. He had the chance to join fellow Argentinians
Luis Carniglia and
Helenio Herrera as the
only non-European coaches to win the European Cup/Champions League. Had they won the final, they would have become the first Spanish club and the fifth club overall to
have won all three major European trophies at the time (
European Cup/Champions League, UEFA Cup/Europa League and the now-defunct Cup Winners' Cup). On the other hand, if they were to lose, they would become the first team to lose their first three European Cup finals. Apart from the 2014 final, won by Real Madrid 4–1 after extra time, the only previous Madrid Derby matches in European competitions were in the
1958–59 European Cup semi-finals, where Real Madrid won 2–1 in a replay, after a 2–2 aggregate draw, and in the
2014–15 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, where Real Madrid won 1–0 on aggregate.
Previous finals In the following table, finals until 1992 were in the European Cup era, since 1993 were in the UEFA Champions League era. ==Route to the final==