Some of sports’ longest reigning curses have been lifted in the past year – the Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series, Hibernian won the Scottish Cup – but one of the most famous in Europe still stands.
Since the European Cup morphed into the Champions League in 1992, no team has ever retained the trophy, from inaugural winners Marseille to Barcelona in 2015.
If there is one team to break the hoodoo, however, it is surely 11-time European champions Real Madrid – and they are three games away from achieving it this season.
Real Madrid reached the Champions League semi-finals with a win over Bayern Munich.
Real could become the first side to retain the Champions League since its 1992 rebranding.
Real beat city rivals Atletico on penalties in 2016 and have their eyes on a 12th European cup
Real defeated Bayern Munich in controversial circumstances on Tuesday night in their quarter final second leg at the Bernabeu, going through 6-3 on aggregate.
