Where is MSN? Barca Curse and the Saviours
Reigning champions Barcelona were eliminated by
Atletico Madrid on Wednesday to ensure the UCL's great curse on
title-holders continued
The great curse of the UEFA Champions League struck once again this
week, as reigning champions Barcelona were sent packing by Atletico
Madrid at the Calderon.Barcelona were just latest. The 24th to try, the 24th to fail. Since the competition took its current form in 1992, nobody has managed to retain the title. They had beaten Atletico in their previous 11 meetings.
They had not failed to score in a UCL match since April 2014. They held the lead from the first leg and would have 76% possession in Madrid for the second. But the goal would not come.
The curse continues. It first hit Barcelona themselves in the inaugural 1992 UFA Champions League when they arrived as kings of Europe but were eliminated by CSKA Moscow in the second round after losing 3-2 at Camp Nou to exit 4-3 on aggregate.
The Catalans suffered their most famous exit in 2010 when Inter Milan put in a backs-to-the wall performance at Camp Nou to escape with a 1-0 that saw them humble perhaps the greatest club side ever assembled.
Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering team were odds on to finally break the curse but were undone by Jose Mourinho, who was desperate to gain revenge after being overlooked for the job after he left Cheslea.
Inter themselves then had to stomach the bitter taste of the curse in the following season when they were eliminated by Schalke 04 in the quarter-finals of the 2010-2011 campaign, suffering a shocking 5-2 home defeat at San Siro before going down 2-1 in the away leg.
“I think it's difficult to win the Champions League because now the Champions League is more and more competitive compared to the past," Carlo Ancelotti told Goal. "When [my AC Milan side] won it in 1989 and 1990 there were not a lot of games to reach the final and to win, and not a lot of teams.
"In the past, there was only one team for each country who could play in the Champions League and now there are three or four teams from each country. Because of this, it is more competitive and more difficult to win it."
Last season, the most storied side in European history, Real Madrid, fell victim as Juventus eliminated los Blancos at the semi-final stage when former Blancos star A lvaro Morata came back to haunt them at the Bernabeu, stunning his former home with the equaliser in a 1-1 draw that secured a 3-2 aggregate victory for the Italians.
Milan, Ajax, Juentus and Manchester United have come closest, but all four fell at the final hurdle and finished runners-up as they stood just one match away from breaking the UEFA Champions League curse to retain the crown.
Barcelona are just the latest victims of the UEFA Champions League curse.
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