83.

25
José Miguel de la Viuda

82.35% or 14/17 is the percentage of victories of Real Madrid football club in the
inal of the European Champions Cup. Until Saturday, May 28, the percentage was
81.25%. Without reaching the percentage of wins in test-match of the New Zealand
All Blacks, Real Madrid's numbers are impressive and I can't understand how the
bookmakers gave Liverpool FC as winners with a 66% probability. I suppose that
their models do not integrate the fact of having eliminated two club-states or the
current champion (generally the club that eliminates the current champion usually
wins the competition). Nor should they take into account that in the 690 minutes
played, Real Madrid has played better than the opposition for 30 minutes against
PSG in Madrid, 90 against Chelsea in London, forty in Madrid, thirty- ive against
Manchester City in Madrid and a quarter of an hour (at most) in Paris: 210
minutes, barely 30% rewriting Baron de Coubertin's motto: "the important thing is
not to play well, the important thing is victory".
After the comeback against Manchester City, one of the consultants from the
"L'Equipe" TV chain said: "whether they win or lose the inal, they have written an
epic page of sports history" a statement that I subscribe to and that could be the
origin of a list, which would include the grand slam of the XV of France in 1977, the
eight consecutive NBA titles of the Boston Celtics and in individual sports the Tours
of Indurain, of Merck, of Hinault, the three medals of Zatopeck in the games of
1952, those of Jesse Owes, Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt, the 7 of Mark Spitz, ..etc, etc
But I would like to highlight other data, which illustrate the decision of that great
player from the club-state based in Paris who, duly advised by the Elysée Palace
and unduly insulted by the Madrid fans (*), has decided to stay in the city of light to
"be the one who brings the cup to Paris" instead of "being one of the many players
who have won many European cups" with Real Madrid (phrase of another
commentator from the aforementioned television channel ). I don't know if that's
the reason or if it's the money, or if it's political pressure that has guided the
player's decision, but the facts agree with the sports commentator
There have been, 769 players who have won the Champions Cup (whether they
play or not, it doesn't matter. Those registered on the line-up sheet are counted) Of
those 769, 16.6% (120) are Spanish (from a football standpoint, that is to say that
Marcelo or Messi do not count), 12.75% (98) Italians and 10.79% (83) English. No
Scots, Welsh or Irish: English of St. George's cross. Within the rest of the concert of
nations, 43 French players have raised the cup of the big ears. Most (13) played for
Olympique de Marseille when they won the title in 1993. Two of them, Didier
Deschamps and Marcel Desailly, would also win cups, with Juve the irst and Milan
AC the second. The next football club in number of French players winning the
European Cup is... Real Madrid CF with ten. Eight until last Saturday. In third place
Bayern Munich with seven. As many as Manchester U, Liverpool and Chelsea put
together. If what we count is not the number of French players who have lifted the
cup from the big ears at least once, but the number of times French players have
lifted the cup, the "frenchies" of Real Madrid win by a landslide: twenty cups,
compared to thirteen for the French players at Olympique de Marseille.

And I let everyone draw their own conclusions.

f

 (*) Unbelievable: If the club wins without the player from the club-state, what
difference does it make? And bringing it up at the moment of triumph is crappy.