“Atletico Madrid and Arsenal are meeting in this season’s Champions League semi-finals. A place in the final in Budapest at the end of May is at stake, of course, but so too is making history for both sides. Atletico and Arsenal, who play their first leg in Madrid tonight (Wednesday), are arguably the two biggest clubs never to have won the Champions League or its forerunner, the European Cup. Atletico have been finalists three times, Arsenal once, and both will envy the likes of Crvena Zvezda, PSV and Steaua Bucharest, who have all claimed the continental title. Each of those three would be considered ‘smaller’ clubs than Atletico or Arsenal, as would two-time winners Porto. But Porto and, for example, Hamburg and Feyenoord, could retort that their size can be measured by their trophy cabinet. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)
Franz Beckenbauer (left) shakes hands with Abelardo of Atletico Madrid ahead of the European Cup final replay in Brussels