1986 UEFA Cup final

Route to the final

En route to reaching the final, both Real Madrid and FC Köln benefitted from performing extremely well at home. In the first five rounds of the competition, Los Blancos had won all five home legs, outscoring opponents by a total of 19 goals to 2 in games played at the Bernabéu in Madrid. Köln was also dominant in their home fixtures–– throughout the entire competition, the West German side conceded only one goal whilst playing as the home team.

In the third round, Real Madrid achieved a shocking comeback against two-time champions Borussia Mönchengladbach. After being crushed by Gladbach in the away leg by a score of 5–1, Real stormed back to win the return leg 4–0, thus advancing on away goals. This is still regarded as one of the greatest comebacks in the history of European continental football.

This was also the second consecutive year that Real Madrid eliminated Inter Milan in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup.

Match details

First leg

Overview (archive) Gordillo
Valdano
Santillana

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Second leg

Scheduling changes

The second leg was originally scheduled for Thursday, 8 May, but was moved to Tuesday, 6 May, following a request by Real Madrid due to their domestic fixtures. Additionally, the match was played in Berlin instead of Cologne because of sanctions imposed by UEFA on Köln stipulating that they must play at least 350 km from their home stadium after trouble caused by supporters during the 2nd leg of the semi-final against Waregem.

Result

Like Real Madrid had in the earlier stages of the competition, Köln went into the second leg 5–1 down. However, Die Geißböcke were unable to replicate Real's successful third-round comeback against Mönchengladbach. Though Köln won the match 2–0 at home, it was not enough, and Real were crowned champions for the second successive year.

Overview (archive) Geilenkirchen

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References

References

1. Tighe, Sam. (20 February 2014). "15 Greatest European Football Comebacks of All Time". B/R Football.
2. "Real Madrid – 1. FC Köln 5:1, UEFA-Cup, Saison 1985/86, 6.Spieltag – taktische Aufstellung". [[Kicker (sports magazine).
3. "1. FC Köln – Real Madrid 2:0, UEFA-Cup, Saison 1985/86, 6.Spieltag – taktische Aufstellung". [[Kicker (sports magazine).